156 THE MICROSCOPE. Oct. 



were water-soaked. "Should this be done," he asks, 

 "with our present advanced knowledg-e of medicine and sur- 

 g-ery?" Most certainly not. The ordinary poultice has 

 no long-er a place among- the resources of the aseptic sur- 

 geon or the practitioner who has any knowledg^e of bacteri- 

 olog-y. 



The poultice is a hot-bed for bacteria, and, such being 

 the case, should not be used, especially where the circula- 

 tion or tissues have been destroyed, as in an injury of any 

 kind. For this reason I teach that we should cease apply- 

 ing- the culture medium of the streptoccocci and their con- 

 g-eners. As a g-eneral rnle uninjured epidermis is imper- 

 vious to org-anisms, but when we soften it, as with a poul- 

 tice, we open the sweat ducts and g-ive the micro-org-anisms 

 eas}^ access to the tissues beneath. 



Syphilis from a Flea Bite. — Jonathan Hutchinson re- 

 ports a primarv lesion of syphilis of unusual origin. An 

 elderlv -member of the profession presented himself, 

 covered with an evidently syphilitic eruption, which rap- 

 idily disappeared under the use of the mercury. A care- 

 ful examination of his entire surface revealed no trace of 

 lesion whatever on the genitals or at any point, except a 

 dusky spot on one leg-, which looked like the remains of a 

 boil. This, the doctor stated had been due to a small sore, 

 the dates of the appearance and duration of which were 

 found to fit exactly with those of a primary lesion. There 

 had also been some enlarg-ement of the femoral g-lands. 

 He had never thought of the sore in this connection, but 

 remembered most distinctly that it followed a flea-bite in 

 an omnibus. Mr. Hutchinson concludes that all the evi- 

 dence tends to show that the disease had probably been 

 communicated from the blood of an infected person throug-h 

 the bite of the insect. — Medical News. 



A Rapid Method of Affixing Paraffin Sections on the 

 Slide. — A small drop of Mayer's albumin mixture is placed 

 in the middle of a slide, and the section, from the micro- 

 tome knife, laid on this drop. The drop forms a cushion 

 and partially flattens the section. A piece of thin, smooth 



