THE MICROSCOPE. 119 



belonging to the Entozoa. They are found in the blood of persons 

 who may apparently enjoy good health at the time. They seem to 

 occur quite frequently in China. A most mysterious phenomenon 

 connected with these organisms is their periodicity. Between four 

 and six o'clock in the afternoon the filari^e began to appear in the 

 blood, their number increases until midnight and then diminishes 

 until nine or ten o'clock in the morning, when they have em irely disap- 

 peared. This daily periodical recurrence of the worms seems to be 

 quite independent of the habits of the patient, and has not yet been 

 explained. — American Medical Journal. 



Barley and Barley Flour. — The best tests for the genuine- 

 ness of barley, says the American Miller, are its color and its freedom 

 from grit and insects. The microscope will lead to the detec- 

 tion of any cheaper grains if mixed with it. Barley is rarely adul- 

 terated, though it is said to be extensively used for the purpose of 

 sophisticating wheat, annato and licorice. The chief difference be- 

 tween barley flour and wheat flour is not in the albuminoid bodies, 

 but in their character. If you take barley flour and knead it with 

 water, you will be able to see after watching for some time a small 

 quantity of crude gluten left, which would render barley flour very 

 inappropriate for making a good loaf of bread. Barley bread is 

 heavy, sticky and leather}^, much like wheat flour when it has been 

 baked in the oven. However, the Greeks are said to have trained 

 their athletes upon a barley diet. 



Moist CHAMBER.-*-Prof. Strassburger's moist chamber is de- 

 scribed in the Journal de Photographie et de Microscopic, as follows: 

 It consists of an ordinary slide upon which is placed a ring of 

 pasteboard, moistened with water. The object which is to be ob- 

 served and kept alive is placed in a drop of water on a cover-glass 

 and inverted over a pasteboard chamber; the cover is made to ad- 

 here to the cell by pressure. The evaporation of the drop of water 

 is greatly retarded, if not entirely prevented, so that in this simple 

 manner Prof. Strassburger has kept Spirogyra in copulation alive for 

 several days. By moistening the pasteboard from time to time the 

 cover will remain attached indefinitely. 



The drop of water can readily be covered with a small and thin 



