1896 THE MICROSCOPE. 61 



death or serious results in about one out of every ten inocula- 

 tions. Death was sometimes rapid, with symptoms of acute 

 septicemia. In one case tuberculosis was communicated to a 

 rabbit by a piece of wool which had been passed over a ten-cen- 

 time copper coin. In another case there was slight tetanus. 

 There can be no doubt that germs of disease are often to be 

 found on the surface of coins, notal)ly tlie microbe of suppura- 

 tion, the stapliylococcus pyogenes, and the streptococcus. Never- 

 theless, as the experiments were repeated they proved that there 

 were fewer infectious germs than had been anticipated. 



Another series of experiments was then made which demon- 

 strated that, though coins are often contaminated they possess 

 in themselves antiseptic qualities which greatly reduce the risk. 

 If pathogenic germs are placed on coins it is seen that they do 

 not live long. The time varies according to the temperature 

 and the nature of the metal. In a cold temperature the germs 

 of typhoid fever and the Friedlander bacillus are killed in eigh- 

 teen hours if placed on a sterilized copper or silver coin ; and 

 the pyocyanic bacillus and that of green diarrhoea in twent3^-four 

 hours. At a temperature of a pocket, about 36° C, ihe bacilli 

 of typhoid fever, of blue pus, of diphtheria, and the streptococ- 

 cus are destroyed in less than six hours. The bacilli of diph- 

 theria are among the most tenacious, and in cold will live three 

 days on silver and six days on bronze. Gold, of course, is less 

 antiseptic, and the Eberth bacillus will live five days and that 

 of diphtheria six days on a gold coin in a temperature of 20° 

 C. at a damp temperature of 36° C, the destruction of the mi- 

 crobes is very rapid, and that is the temperature which often 

 prevails in the pockets of clothes. — Medical Record. 



Bacteria in Railroad Cars. — An examination of the dust 

 of railroad cars made in Germany under the direction of the 

 Imperial Board of Health, showed in fourth-class cars more 

 than twelve thousand germs per meter, than in first-class cars 

 about one-fifth this number. Some of the animals inoculated 

 with the dust died of tuberculosis, showing the presence of 

 this germ with the other miscellaneous microbes, of which 

 railroad carriages, as at present managed, furnish a very large 

 assortment. — Modern Medicine. 



