76 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[April, 



ble and widely read paper as the 

 Prairie Farmer has been led to 

 support such pretensions, but we 

 must quote a few lines from that 

 paper to show the matter in its true 

 light. The article is headed ' Hog 

 Cholera. . Important ! ' and refers to 

 the losses already sustained by reason 

 of the prevalence of the disease, and 

 then continues as follows : — ' Dec. 

 4th we announced that Dr. J. A. 

 Sewell, formerly Professor of Natural 

 Science in the Illinois State Normal 

 University and now President of the 

 Colorado University at Boidder, Col. , 

 proposed to go into a thorough in- 

 vestigation of hog cholei'a, and had 

 s^^ecial facilities for doing so, w'ithout 

 cost to the public. All he asks is 

 many small specimens of blood from 

 diseased animals 



' All that is necessary is to slightly 

 prick the diseased hog, anywhere in 

 its body, with the point of a pen- 

 knife or large needle, so that a few 

 drops of blood will start out. Catch 

 these in a little clean vial 



'If a vial is not at hand, catch a 

 few drops on a bit of clean, un- 

 starched cotton cloth, dry it without 

 heat, and enclose it in a letter.' 



Was there ever more arrant hum- 

 bug in the guise of science } Profes- 

 sor Sewell proposes to study the 

 microbe of this disease, which has 

 proved one of the most puzzling and 

 difficult of germ diseases to experi- 

 enced observers, without the slightest 

 training for the work. Does he not 

 even know that microbes are con- 

 stantly in the air and everywhere, 

 and that blood cannot be collected in 

 a bottle or on a cloth (!) without con- 

 tamination } Is it strange that ' He 

 has discovered a new microbe in 

 every blood specimen received.'" 

 Only one, indeed, why not say a 

 dozen, for they were certainly present 

 — but they are probably not new to 

 science. 



American Society of Micro- 

 scopiSTS. — The Proceedings of the 

 eighth annual meeting of tliis So- 



ciety, held last year at Cleveland, 

 have recently been issued, comprising 

 a volume of 35S pages, qviite fully 

 and well illustrated. There is a 

 heliotype plate illustrating Mr. J. D. 

 Cox's article on the actinic and vis- 

 ual focus in photo-micrography ; a 

 plate of infusoria by Professor Kelli- 

 cott, and another heliotype plate il- 

 lustrating Dr. Detmer's article on 

 poisonous dried beef. This plate 

 might as well have been omitted, 

 since, Avhile it does suggest JSficro- 

 cocci in a general way, it is no special 

 aid to the imagination, and besides, 

 the significance of those organisms 

 is at least uncertain. 



Mr. Kruttschnitt also gives a well 

 executed plate in explanation of his 

 work on pollen-tubes. Among the 

 other illustrations we notice three by 

 Dr. L. M. Holbrook, which, since 

 they represent not what is seen by the 

 eye, but what all pupils of Dr. Heitz- 

 mann are taught to believe should be 

 seen, and therefore must be delineated, 

 are onlv misleading and should have 

 been excluded. The structure rep- 

 resented has not been shown in any 

 photo-micrograph, and can only be 

 discovered by a few misguided indi- 

 viduals. Why, then, should a large, 

 representative body of microscopists 

 encourage and propagate such er- 

 roneous ideas.'' 



We do not attempt a comprehensive 

 notice of the volume for the reason 

 that already some of the articles have 

 appeared in these columns, and those 

 who wish to see the others can obtain 

 the volume from Dr. J. E. Fell, of 

 Buffalo, for $1.50 if we recollect 

 aright. A practical form of home- 

 made heliostat for photo-micrography 

 is described and figured, which may 

 prove of value to those who prefer to 

 construct rather than to buy their ap- 

 paratus. 



The volume is a very creditable 

 one and the editorial work has been 

 well done. 



New Objective and Ocular. — 

 Dr. Henri Van Heurck has recently 



