28 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [January, 



which he had said would produce a contagious disease among 

 the field mice as fatal as typhoid. Some cultures were prepared 

 at the Bacteriological Institute in Athens. These were placed in 

 water, and pieces of bread soaked therein. In order to convince 

 the peasants that the bacilli would not harm other animals than 

 the mice, an exhibit was made by feeding the bread to all kinds 

 of domestic animals. Even the experimenters tasted the bread. 

 The impregnated bread was then scattered in all directions. At 

 the end of a month a great number of mice had succumbed. They 

 were found in the fields with the crania open or the entrails 

 gnawed. One of the effects of the disease is to cause the mice to 

 come out of their holes. The well mice devoured parts of the 

 cadavers, so that the infection once introduced propagated itself 

 rapidly. This method of destruction has equally succeeded with 

 house mice, although these belong, as is well known, to another 

 species of rodents. 



Whooping-Cough. — It is believed by Ritter that the bacillus 

 diplococciis is the cause of this disease. He has isolated and, 

 developed the germs in agar-agar, the temperature required being 

 about 37° F. The bacilli are very small indeed. They can be 

 obtained from the expectorations of patients suffering from the 

 cough. 



Another Microbe. — Acosta and Grand Rossi have been study- 

 ing the bank bills of Havana and the microbes deposited thereon. 

 They found that the weight of the bills actually increased during 

 their circulation because of the sweat, grease, and dirt deposited 

 upon them. In these deposits thrive the microbes. In two cases 

 the number of microbes exceeded 19,000 upon the surface ob- 

 served. Among these microbes there was one bacillus which 

 appeared special and which has been named Bacillus billet-de- 

 banquus. It is septic. Inoculated in rabbits and guinea-pigs, it 

 caused them to die rapidly. There were also found the bacilli of 

 tuberculosis, of diphtheria, and the streptococcus of erysipelas, 

 as well as several other pathogenic forms. 



MEDICAL MICROSCOPY. 



Diagnosis of Tumors of the Bladder by Microscopical 

 Examination. — Ferguson recently presented at a meeting of the 

 New York Pathological Society a series of specimens illustrating 

 the different varieties of tumors of the bladder, their situation and 

 general characteristics, and dwelt particularly upon the important 

 aid in diagnosis rendered by microscopical examinations. Exclu- 

 sive of the cystoscope, he believed that the best method of making 

 a diagnosis of tumors of the bladder was by continuous microscopi- 

 cal examination of the urine. This method of diagnosis is of 



