THE MICROSCOPE. 185 



oval, or reniform; its follicle curvature may be estimated by the 

 average diameter of the curls as proposed by Moseley; its coloring 

 matter may be estimated by Sorby's method. There has been even 

 a systematic classification of man published by Dr. W. Muller, of the 

 Novara Expedition, which is primarily arranged according to hair, 

 in straight-haired races, curly-haired races, etc., with a secondary 

 division according to language. 



First Idea of the Telephone. — The following lines, brought 

 to the attention of M. de Parville by Prof. Egger, are extracted from 

 the book "Incredulite et Mescreance du Sortilege," by P. de l'Ancre, 

 published at Paris in 1662. De la Diviniation, 5 teme traite: 



"It is reported that a German communicated to King Henry the 

 Great an astonishing secret, through which men far apart might 

 understand each other by means of the magnet. He first rubbed 

 together (frotta) two magnetic needles, and then attached them 

 separately to two clocks, about the dials of which were written the 

 twenty-four letters of the alphabet. When one needle was moved to 

 a letter of the alphabet the other, no matter how far away, moved to 

 the same letter. The King, perceiving how dangerous the secret 

 might become in transmitting information to beseiged cities, for- 

 bade its publication." 



The Presence of Bacillus Tuberculosis in an Abscess 

 Near the Anus. — Dr. Robert C. Smith writes in the British Medi- 

 cal Journal: Six months ago, a young clerk, aged 21, came under 

 treatment for haemoptysis and other signs of phthisis. After about 

 three months' treatment he became strong enough to resume his 

 employment, at which he continued up to the commencement of this 

 month. I saw him on the fifth, when he was suffering acutely from 

 an abscess in the neighborhood of the anus; and, fearing lest it 

 might burst into the bowel and give rise to a painful blind internal 

 fistula, I opened the abscess at once and let out a quantity of thin, 

 curdy, foetid pus. A microscopic examination of this fluid by a 

 half-inch object-glass, after the usual process of staining, revealed 

 the presence of great quantities of well-marked typical tubercle- 

 bacilli. Now, the presence of these organisms in this situation is 

 interesting, as they tend to throw some light on the well-known con- 

 nection between fistula and phthisis. 



