34 PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 



a liospital tlie air contains a greater number of these elements, 

 and in addition certain special bodies, such as pus-globules, spores 

 of epiphytic parasites, which emanate from diseased organisms, and, 

 owing to their volatility after desiccation, are suscei^tible of hovering 

 in the atmosphere. In 1865, M. Broca discovered pus-globules in 

 the liquid expressed from the sponge with which the walls of 

 one of the wards of the St. Antonio Hospital had been washed. In 

 1860, M. Chalvet was inclined to attribute the blue coloration which 

 is often observed in the vicinity of wounds to the presence of micro- 

 scopic algae of the species Palmella. In 1861, Dr. Eiselt, of Prague, 

 placed an instrument, analogous to the aeroscope of Pouchet, between 

 two beds, in a ward occupied by thirty-three children with purulent 

 ophthalmia ; the apparatus consisted of a glass plate coated with 

 glycerine, and pus-globules were distinctly seen. To the above and 

 analogous facts, which are recorded in the dissertation of Dr. Deville 

 (Strasbourg, 1860), are to be added the recent experiments of 

 Dr. Nepven, of Paris : One square metre of wall in the surgical ward 

 of La Pitie having been washed after neglect for two years, the liquid 

 expressed from the sponge (about thirty grammes) was examined 

 immediately afterward. It was black, and showed micrococcus in 

 large amount, several bacteria, epithelial cells in small number, 

 several pus-globules, several red globules, and, lastly, irregular, 

 blackish masses and ovoid bodies of unknown nature. The experi- 

 ment was conducted with all possible precautions. 



Bacteria found in the Perspiration of Man. — Dr. Eberth, of 

 Ziirich,* has, says the ' Medical Record,' found, by aid of the micro- 

 scope, in the sweat from the face, some corpuscles which he con- 

 sidered as bacteria. This view became confirmed when he examined 

 the axilla, breast, and inner side of the thigh of several persons in a 

 state of perspiration. The sweat of these parts contained nearly 

 always enormous numbers of bacteria. In most cases they originated 

 from minute bodies found upon the hairs in the mentioned regions, 

 forming little nodules on them, and giving them a greyish or a brick 

 colour. They were recognized by the author as accumulations of 

 micrococci. They may rapidly increase in number, are smaller than 

 the diphtherial micrococci, and are nearly indifferent to reagents 

 (concentrated acids, alkalies, alcohol, ether, chloroform). Iodine 

 colours them yellow. The vegetation of bacteria on the hairs may 

 be observed in cases where they are changed already, beginning in 

 places which have clefts between their cells. The vegetation occuj)ie8 

 large sj^aces, especially in the direction of the longest diameter of the 

 hair. Dr. Eberth observed a mycelium and micrococci, and thinks 

 that the latter are the fruits of the former. Other investigators 

 observed coloured sweat, red and blue, which contained micrococci. 

 It was difficult to decide in these cases if the colouring matter 

 was adherent to the micrococci, or if it was a product of the vegetation. 



The Migrations of the White Corpuscles. — The ' Medical Eecord ' 

 says that Dr. Jul. Arnold, of Heidelberg f has examined the con- 



* Virchow's 'Archiv,' vol. Ixii. f Ibid. 



