PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 131 



Forden, near Welshpool. The present was a slide of XenodocJius 

 carhonarms, Schl., and Mr. Vize reported that this rare fungus occurs 

 near Welshpool, in a railway cutting, with a south-westerly aspect, 

 well sheltered by a hill and a wood. The first appearance on the 

 leaves of Sanguisorha officinalis, L., was noticed in the middle of May, 

 when the Lecythca-form was in perfection, but the stems and other 

 portions of the Burnet were greatly distorted by it. A month after- 

 wards the magnificent vermilion-coloured spores were well sjirinkled 

 over the leaves, the form of which was unaltered. In the middle of 

 July the intensely black brand spores made their apj)earance, many 

 of which had twenty or more articulations, and were plentifully scat- 

 tered over the leaves in tufts. Mr. Vize stated that he had not 

 watched the transition state from the Uredo to brand-spores, but he 

 hoj)ed to do so if ojjportunity ofiered. 



Action of Quinine on the White Corpuscles of the Shod. — This subject, 

 in which Binz and Strieker held somewhat different views, has recently, 

 says the ' Lancet,' been taken uj) by Herr Kerner, who contributes 

 a jjaper on this subject to the last part of Pfliiger's ' Archiv,' being 

 incited by the observations of Mosler on the cure of certain cases of 

 leucfemia by the administration of quinine. Kerner remarks that it is 

 quite possible to obtain a neutral salt of quinine, and in his experi- 

 ments he used the chloride and the carbonate. He drew small quan- 

 tities of blood from cats and dogs, and applied a one-tenth solution of 

 this salt in lirojiortion to the blood of 1 part to 4000, upon a micro- 

 scopic stage maintained at blood heat. The result was striking. The 

 white corpuscles became round and darkly granular, and the move- 

 ments were very sj)eedily completely arrested. It of course became 

 interesting to compare these effects with those produced by other 

 neutral salts, and in pursuing this investigation to some extent he 

 found that salicin, caftein, atropine, and arseniate of potash were all 

 either wholly indifferent or possessed only the slightest influence. 

 Quinine therefore exerts a remarkable action on the white corpuscles 

 of the blood, independent of its antiseptic properties. 



Tlie importance of Angular Aperture being stated in objectives, has 

 been pointed out of late by several of our correspondents ; but the 

 remarks of one who signed himself " B " have been taken up by the 

 'American Naturalist' (January, 1872). This journal says that the 

 estimation of any angular aperture, so well expressed by " B," is 

 perfectly familiar and undisputed among experienced microscopists, 

 although its exact bearings are not always easily apprehended by 

 beginners ; and that microscopists need occasional caution in regard 

 to it may be inferred from the case in point, where an accomplished 

 writer stated an extraordinary performance of a lens without men- 

 tioning the range of its apertures or the aperture at which he worked 

 it. The peculiar and entirely independent qualities of lenses of low 

 and of high angles are everywhere understood alike ; but the extent 

 to which success has been attained in this country in the construction 

 of high angles cannot be appreciated abroad when " B," evidently well 

 informed on other points, would not be surprised to hear that a one- 



