1893.] MICKOSCOriOAL JOURNAL. 147 



were practically the same, but the tiine and ease of manipulation 

 he regarded so much in favor of the pieces of apparatus especially 

 constructed for the purpose that they alone seemed to him really 

 practicable for quickly and easily measuring all the cover-glasses 

 that would be used in a histological laboratorv in three months. 



MICROSCOPICAL MANIPULATION. 



Cleaning Mortars. — Make a strong solution by dissolving 

 caustic soda in a large bottle of water, which can be kept near 

 the water-sink. First rub the inside of the mortars or other 

 utensils well with sawdust, then use the caustic alkali solution, 

 which will remove either resins or oils. Alcohol would do, but it 

 is expensive. 



Cleaning Steel Instruments. — Clean the instruments by 

 rubbing with wood ashes and soft water. Then soak them in a 

 weak solution of hydrochloric acid in water (about ten to fifteen 

 drops to the fluid ounce) for a few hours, to remove the rust and 

 grease. Then wash them well in pure soft water. The next 

 step is to place them in a bath consisting of saturated solution of 

 tin chloride. Let them remain ten to twenty-four hours, accord- 

 ing to the coating desired. When removed from the bath, wash 

 them clean in pure water and dry well. When the job is well 

 done, the steel will appear as if nickel plated. — Medical Brief. 



BACTERIOLOGY. 



Soft Chancres. — Some Russian physicians have examined 

 fifteen cases of soft chancres as follows : Having washed out an 

 ulcer with a permiile solution of corrosive sublimate, they ex- 

 tracted (by means of a sterilized needle) some discharge with 

 detritus, spread the matter over a glass plate, and stained the speci- 

 men with Sahli's solution (sixteen grammes of a five per cent, 

 solution of borax, twenty grammes of a saturated aqueous solu- 

 tion of methylene-blue, and twenty-four grammes of distilled 

 water), after which they examined it under the microscope 

 (Leitz's Ocular No. 3, and immersion system one-half). In 

 every one and all of the cases there were detected the character- 

 istic microbes first described by Dr. Ducrey, of Naples. In 

 other words, there were invariably present peculiar short and 

 relatively rather thick rod-shaped bacteria, measuring from 1.4S 

 to 2 m. in length, and from 0.5 to i.o m. in width, and resembling 

 the figure 8 (Ducrey, Petersen), or dumb-bells (Krefting). The 

 bacilli were partly lying free (singly, or in rows, or in groups), 

 and partly embedded within leucocytes. In the discharge taken 



