178 THE MICROSCOPE. [August, 



(c) A bud of about one-fourth the diameter of the mother would 

 pull off, taking with it a filament of the parent substance, so that 

 mother and young were connected as with an umbilical cord. 

 Thev would continue to separate more and more, the filament 

 or gubernaculum growing more and more attenuated until it broke. 

 The part attached to the mother w^as drawn into her. That at- 

 tached to the young one was drawn into it. They separated as 

 if forced apart by some one as candy is pulled by the confectioner. 

 Prof. Paulus F. Reinsch, of Erlangen, Germany, saw this phe- 

 nomenon with me. and said it was a new observation in genesis. 



(y) Besides these, the asthmatos locomote sometimes from one 

 part of the field to another, and in opposite directions to each 

 other. 



The best time to collect the forms is in the first stages, when 

 the coughing and sneezing are on. Later it is more difficult to 

 detect the asthmatos, as they seem to penetrate to the deeper air 

 passages, to the maxillary antra and to the frontal sinus even and 

 are more difficult to dislodge. vStill they leave behind irritation 

 after they have relinquished the outer air passages. Usually they 

 are more abundant in the clear, glairy, transparent mucus than 

 in the darker and whiter excretions. 



How to collect them. — I use the following modes : 



1. Place the specimen of sputum on a slide and spread it out 

 in a thin film. Examine under a :^-inch objective which has a 

 working distance of ^ inch at least. I like a large cell, say 2 

 inches by f inch. Mine is of brass on glass. Any one can make 

 a cell by heating sealing-wax and moulding it into a cylinder 

 about ^ inch in diameter, long enough to be laid in the above 

 size on a slide. If then this slide is gently heated from below so 

 as to melt on the sealing-wax all round, the cell will be complete. 



2. If immersion objectives or the clinical microscope are used, 

 a cover is needed and the extra excretion removed by a bibulant, 

 as cloth or paper. I prefer the light from a good adamantine 

 candle or oil lamp. Mode one grows the largest field at once 

 and saves time. Higher objectives may be used. I have photo- 

 graphed the asthmatos wnth the one-sixteenth and one-seventy- 

 fifth inch objectives and demonstrated to many people. It is not 

 now denied that these forms exist in grip. 



^A(^hat has been said to me about them. — 



1. " Pshaw! No such thing as a cause of grip." This was 

 uttered by an old physician in the full tide of a large practice, 

 who has to treat the grip without microscopy, and so spoke from 

 no personal observation. He knew nothing about infusoria, nor 

 from his own success in reaping the monetary rewards of his 

 professional life could he think it needful for him to know. 



2. Others said that the forms called asthmatos were deformed 

 ciliated epithelia. This narrows down the question to asthma- 



