1894 THE MICROSCOPE. 179 



The height of the tallest of the tanks of which I have 

 spoken being but 16 millimetres, it is easy to raise the 

 objects which it is desired to examine with a pipette pro- 

 vided with a rubber bulb. 



I will speak, in the future, of the special cultures 

 that can be made with these aquariums. Meanwhile I 

 shall be much pleased to hear from some of our readers 

 who have tried and succeeded. — Rene Samson. 



A Newly Discovered Cause of Typhoid Fever. 



Recently the College communities at Amherst and at 

 Wesleyan University were startled by the development 

 of a considerable number of cases of typhoid fever. In 

 response to an inquiry addressed by us to H. W. Conn, 

 Professor of Biology in the latter College, we have re- 

 ceived the following statements which show what the 

 microscope can do in combatting this disease which is to 

 be so much dreaded; 



First. We have had quite a number of cases of ty- 

 phoid here. I say have had, for although several are 

 still sick, there have been no new cases for two weeks 

 and as you will see, we have reasons for not expecting 

 more. 



Second. The wells were of course suspected and their 

 use immediately stopped, but investigation showed that 

 they were not the cause, for at least three reasons. Sev- 

 eral of the sick men had not used the wells, towns peo- 

 ple used them freely and have not been sick, and bacteri- 

 ological study showed no pathogenic germs in the wells. 



Third. We have found that all cases are in three frater- 

 nities (with explainable exceptions) and have demon- 

 strated that the cause of the trouble was a lot of raw 

 oysters which were eaten on October 12, at the initia- 

 tion suppers. These oysters came from a creek where 

 they had been allowed to lie within three hundred feet 



