Tue Microscope. 179 
tion, tuberculous. Again it was shown that the cultures of 
microsporon furfur, of tubercle produced from this fungus, and 
those from the tubercles of man are exactly the same. Certainly 
we shall in this connection be obliged to accept the good advice 
given to “ American sceptics” by Pasteur. ‘ Doubt is wise and 
healthful: but doubters must not expect all their doubts an- 
swered at once. Recall Jenner. Could he have satisfied his 
opponents while he stood on the threshold of his experience ? 
Let your last word be wait/”? And we are content to wait. 
But while wazting we will be active in bringing to bear all the 
good, old, orthodox methods for the relief and cure of all cases 
of phthisis thal may come under our care, without regard to 
microsporon furfur, bacterium termo, or bacillus tuberculosis. 
THE MICROBES OF PNEUMONIA. 
Professor Weichselbaum recently presented an elaborate 
paper before the Vienna Medical Society, in which he gives the 
results of 127 cases of pneumonia examined, with 87 culture 
experiments. 
The material for the cultures was obtained one or two hours 
after death,—as well as from the living subject, by means of a 
Pravaz syringe (hypodermic), introduced into the lung and 
pleura. He distinguishes four kinds of microdganisms, 
1st. The diplococcus pneumonize. This is the most com- 
mon and consists of oval, elliptical, and round cocci, which 
occur in chains as well as in pairs. The chains are composed of 
from six to eight or as many as twenty to thirty cocci, and are 
straight or slightly curved. The cocci are developed in a cap- 
sule, which varies in thickness in proportion to their vitality. 
2. A variety of cocci resembling the first, but having a 
greater uniformity in spherical shape, and forming in long, 
sinuous chains. 
3. Staphylococcus aureus or albus. 
4. Bacillus pneumoniz, (Weichselbaum). These consist 
of rods of different lengths, the smallest, and apparently 
youngest, being oval. They have a capsule, and correspond to 
Friedlander’s pneumococcus. 
The first variety was found in ninety-three cases, mostly of 
croupous pheumonia,—-also in secondary forms. The second, 
