1896 THE MICROSCOPE. 147 



Primary Bacteriology. 



Amateur bacteriologists complain that notwithstaudiiig 

 they have a good microscope aad accesories, they have 

 no ovens, culture tubes, petri dishes, and a great deal 

 of apparatus which is listed in almost all of the cata- 

 logues, which they cannot afford to buy. Of course I ad- 

 mit that a well-equipped laboratory, which will probab- 

 ly in this state be found only in our leading medical 

 colleges, is of great advantage and far more convenient ; 

 but he who wants to study can improvise the necessary 

 apparatus to start his first investigations and hope that 

 by the time he is ready to continue his research he will 

 have fallen heir to wealth. 



Let us talk of the preliminary work a little : We have 

 a microscope but only have a one-fifth inch objective ; 

 we have been told that without a one-twelfth inch oil 

 immersion lens and an Abbe condenser it would be fruit- 

 less to search for bacteria, and on account of the expense 

 these, valuable accessories have not been added. Some 

 micro-organisms can be readily seen with a much lower 

 power than a one-twelfth inch objective, as for instance 

 the subject of urine which we now propose to take up. 



Procure a bottle of your own or some patient's urine, 

 allow to stand open in a warm room 36 hours, and from 

 the surface, with pipette, take up a squall drojj of scum, 

 as it appears without cover glass, place on an ordinary 

 slip and examine with a fourth or fifth-inch lens, and 

 many forms of living organisms will appear. I have 

 seen every variety plainly and distinctly except the 

 spirilla, and, of course, the flagella can not be discerned 

 under such a low power. Their movements must not be 

 mistaken, for the rapid evaporation causes currents, and, 

 in fact, sometimes so rapidly do they move from under 

 the field that is is imjjossible to follow them. 



Now, having watched their movements carefully and 



