THE NoRTHERN MuiIcROSscoPIst. 
No. 6. JUNE. 1881. 
AERIAL, SPORES: 
Plate VI. 
1 ae frequent occurrence of epidemic diseases, which have for 
a number of years been attributed to matertes morbi in the | 
air, and the possible connection which minute germs have with 
disease, renders it of extreme importance that the subject of aerial 
spores should be investigated in earnest. 
There are many researches we can point to, bearing upon this 
subject, on the Bacillus of pneumo-enteritis by Klein, the 
researches of Professor Tommassi-Crudelli on the Bacillus of inter- 
mittent fever, Dr. Koch’s researches and photographs of Bacteria 
in Septiceemia, Dr. Greenfield and McCarthy’s work upon Pyzmia, 
Septiczemia, and Purulent infection, Pasteur’s researches on fowl- 
cholera, and a number of others, which show that if these minute 
organisms are really the causes of the various diseases attributed to 
them, we should expect to find their germs in the atmosphere. 
Researches upon this subject to be properly carried out, need 
rigorous attention to details, and the very various and conflicting 
results which have been arrived at, from time to time, show us 
that every precaution must be taken against contamination from 
extraneous sources. We must confess a doubt as to the accurate 
interpretation of results when time has been allowed to elapse 
between the collection of the specimen and its examination under 
the microscope. It is hardly possible to handle such subjects without 
exposing them to the air, and the additional operations of preparing, 
staining, and mounting are always liable to introduce errors. 
Water always contains a great number of germs, and their presence 
in the condensed aqueous vapour of the atmosphere has been 
established by Lemaire and Gratiolet. It is true that Rindfleisch 
stated that aqueous vapour contained neither spores nor bacteria ; 
but Billroth and Cohn have since proved that he was mistaken. 
Being then by no means difficult in the staining and preparation 
of our objects to introduce the very organisms we are searching 
for, the above facts should always be borne in mind. 
