i 4 THE MICROSCOPE. 



facts, hence the human mind is only too glad to welcome it. 

 Pasteur's influence, too, is so great, that many who are not yet con- 

 vinced, and are not likely to be, are afraid to rise up in opposition 

 to this doctrine. Disease exists, because it exists! and as to why, or 

 how it exists, he quotes Moleir's explanation of the soporific effects 



of opium: 



"Quia est in eo 



Virtus dormitiva 



Cujus est natura 



Sensus assoupire." 

 The micro-organism found in some diseased conditions is a re- 

 sult, of the condition rather the cause of it, so the matter appears to 

 many who presumably, are among these afraid to oppose a theory so 

 well supported. Instancing the germ in erysipelas, in syphilis, (the 

 career of which has not been very favorable), and that in rubeola, he 

 says, in particular of the latter, it is almost absurd to give any 

 weight to the possible influence of the germ as a cause of the dis- 

 ease, or as influencing the course of the same, or as existing in the 

 course of the disease necessarily. The question very naturally 

 arises, why is not the urine only a suitable nidus, chemically, for the 

 existence and the proper propagation of the bacteria found therein. 

 Their presence, then, proves nothing, and if it is a cause of rubeola, 

 as is affirmed by M. Lebel, why is it, if it exist, that it comes and 

 goes, is so fickle as to its presence in a given place, and why do we 

 have epidemics; why not have a case any time! 



Such is the error of the review, simply statements of opinions 

 rather than of convictions based upon the knowledge of scientific 

 facts, gained from experimental study. 



We find in the January number of the journal, the announce- 

 ment of a series of papers by Prof. Balbiani, of the college of 

 France, in the development of the arthropodes (crustaceans, insects, 

 et al.). These topics will be treated of in the lecture course this 

 year at the college of France by Prof. Balbiani. 



OUR NEW ONE-FIFTIETH OBJECTIVE. 



BY C. H. STOWELL. 



ABOUT two years ago an order was given to the firm of Chas. 

 Spencer & Co., Geneva, N. Y., for a one-fiftieth objective. 

 The dissolution of this firm caused serious delay in filling the order 



