1886.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



207 



stantly found plasmatic bodies, corpi 

 plasmatici., endowed with lively 

 amoeboid movements, in which the 

 htemoglobine is transformed into 

 melanine (melancsmia) ; and in a 

 further memoir which they have pub- 

 lished this year they suggest, as a 

 more probable hypothesis, the opinion 

 that those plasmatic bodies are the 

 living organisms which produce ma- 

 laria. Thus Marchiafava and Celli 

 confirm, in substance, Tommasi- 

 Crudeli's opinion that a living or- 

 ganism is the cause of malaria, but 

 they regard its form as differing from 

 a schizomycete. 



These observations are embodied 

 in a note with which Todaro pref- 

 aces a communication by Tommasi- 

 Crudeli in the April Lancet on ' a 

 bacillus found in the malaric atmos- 

 phere around Pola (Istria).' This 

 bacillus resembles the most typical 

 forms of the Bacillus malar ice which 

 Tommasi-Crudeli and Klebs found in 

 the air and subsoil of the Roman 

 Campagna, which is par excellence 

 the home of malaria. Since identity 

 of form does not necessarily imply 

 equality in infective power, T.-Cru- 

 deli reserves his definite opinion on 

 the bacilli discovered in the air of 

 Pola until they shall have been sub- 

 mitted to experimental reseaixh, a 

 plan of which he has sketched. 

 o 



Histological Records. 



We are reminded, by the appear- 

 ance of Mr. Alling's Microscopical 

 Records^ of the matter of keeping a 

 record of the history of every speci- 

 men which the m i c r b s c o p i s t pre- 

 serves. In the present age of careful 

 histological work a great deal may de- 

 pend upon what is too insignificant a 

 detail to be remembered unless the 

 memory is helped by an exact record. 

 Two forms of record are used — one 

 the card catalogue, the other the book 

 catalogue. By one or the other of 

 these two a record should be always 

 kept of every histological operation. 

 As to which it shall be the choice of 

 the individual should decide. For 



some reasons the book scheme is bet- 

 ter, and manv will prefer it. What- 

 ever scheme is chosen, the record 

 should be kept very exactly. 



Thus, to copy one of our own : — 



No. 2ri. — Spinal cord — kitten. May, 1886. 



Mo. Day. Hottr. 

 *Corrosive sublimate and acetic 



acid 5 19 3.00 P.M. 



H 20 " " 3.15 " 



50 p c. alcohol " 20 10. 00 AM. 



70 p. c. " " 20 12 CO " 



Borax carmine " 27 11.00 " 



Absolute alcohol " 28 8.00 " 



Chloroform " 29 12.00 " 



Chloroform and parrafin " 29 3.00 P.M. 



Parafin at 60° cent " 30 11,00 a.m. 



Removed from bath " 30 11.45 " 



Cleared with turpentine and mounted in chloroform 

 balsam. 



We do not. select this because it 

 shows the best possible treatment to 

 be pursued, but because it was the 

 first one hit upon. An examination 

 of the record shows that it v\^as left 

 over the proper time in water to wash 

 out the corrosive, and also left some- 

 what over time in the 50% alcohol. 

 But the value of the record is that it 

 is an exact record of what has hap- 

 pened to the section numbered 3oi , and 

 when that section is studied it forms a 

 good basis for a study of the method 

 by comparison with other sections. 

 It so happens that the nerve ganglion 

 cells show beautifully in the section in 

 question ; fibres may be traced from 

 the poles a long way oft' into the gray 

 matter. The nuclei are distinct, but 

 their structure is not shown beyond a 

 confused granularity. The value of 

 a record like this becomes evident at 

 once upon comparative study of half 

 a dozen cords with the details of the 

 preserving, staining, and imbedding 

 varied each time. It is the fussy and 

 laborious portion of the histologist's 

 work, but the part which removes his 

 w^ork from the easy region of guess- 

 ing to the more satisfactory region of 

 scientific accuracy. An exact record 

 of the processes kept up during the 

 preparation of a couple of hundred 

 operations makes of the thoughtful 

 histologist an independent worker, 

 who is prepared for nice work, and 



* Corrosive sub. saturated aqueous solution acidu- 

 lated slightly w^ith acetic acid. The numbers refer to 

 the time the object was placed in the fluid opposite 

 which they occur. 



