I90 THE MICROSCOPE. 



Out of these forty-two powders examined, twelve powders, or 28 

 per cent., were found adulterated. 



In each case the samples examined were carefully compared 

 with powders of known purity, obtained by powdering the crude 

 drugs ; some of which were kindly furnished by Mr. C. B. Allaire, 

 of the firm of Allaire, Woodward & Co., Peoria, 111., to whom the 

 writer desires to express his thanks. 



A COUNTRY DOCTOR AND HIS MICROSCOPE— SOME 

 OF HIS EARLY CASES. 



BY W. W. MUNSON, M. D., OTISCO, N. Y. 

 I. 



IN the autumn of 1879, my friend. Dr. C. Green, of Homer, N. Y., 

 sent me a few drops of fluid in a tiny vial, pleasantly stumping 

 me to tell where it came from. My remembrance is that he gave 

 me no clue, whatever, to its origin. 



The. use of the microscope was quite new to me at that time; 

 but I returned a positive verdict that the specimen was from an 

 ovarian cyst, all because of the "ovarian granular cell," the "ovarian 

 corpuscle," "Drysdale's cell," that I had read of, but had never be- 

 fore seen, that cell upon which so much discredit has been thrown. 



Dr. Green then wrote me that the fluid was drawn, as a test 

 specimen, from the abdomen of a patient whom he had examined, in 

 consultation with her attending physician, and that he had settled 

 upon ovarian tumor as the diagnosis, before sending it to me. 



During the next summer, an acquaintance from Homer, 

 with an abdominal enlargement, was visiting friends in our town, 

 and I was asked to examine her. I did so, and gave it up! The 

 next day it incidently came out that she was the patient from whose 

 abdomen the fluid above mentioned was taken. I at once conclud- 

 ed that her tumor was ovarian, and sent her word to that effect. 



Early in 1881 this lady went to Buffalo to consult the late Dr. 

 J. P. White, who wrote me, in answer to my inquiries: "In the 

 case of your friend, Mrs. H., I performed my 120th ovariotomy," 

 etc., etc., — giving result of operation, weight and nature of tumor, 

 etc., — thus finally confirming my diagnosis made by the use of the 

 microscope alone. 



Mind, Mr. Editor, I don't tell this story for the purpose of 

 giving so much information to microscopists, nor to boast of the least 

 bit of skill on my part; for I was far from skillful, having had my 

 instrument but a few months; but to show those physicians who 

 make no use of the microscope, that they are missing a valuable aid 

 in making up their cases. 



