1883.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



13 



read. Within half an hour another 

 gentleman came in and offered his 

 congratulations for the unusual excel- 

 lence of the "last number." 



Perhaps nobody can tell better than 

 an editor the real worth of the articles 

 he publishes ; but it is a very different 

 matter to know how those articles will 

 be valued by the readers of his paper. 



There is a very large class of read- 

 ers who seem to regard this periodical 

 as a medium of instruction in ele- 

 mentary microscopical manipulations, 

 such as are to be found in every book 

 treating of the microscope. In the 

 first volume we did give a number of 

 articles on the preparation and mount- 

 ing of objects. Those articles cov- 

 ered the ground well, and we have 

 not deemed it necessary to repeat the 

 instructions in detail. But, on the other 

 hand, all new suggestions, all new pro- 

 cesses and methods which have since 

 been proposed, and which have seemed 

 practical and valuable, have been duly 

 noticed in these columns. We do not 

 pretend that this Journal can take 

 the place of a text-book ; but that it 

 supplements the latter by giving new 

 processes, and a summary of new 

 observations and discoveries. 



We have frequently been urged to 

 enlarge the Journal, and increase 

 the price of subscription. We have 

 not deemed it good policy to do so ; 

 but we are pleased to say that the 

 present publishers have already ex- 

 pressed a desire to enlarge it ; and 

 we have no doubt that if they receive 

 liberal support and encouragement 

 from subscribers during the present 

 year, they will do so. 



The Cause of Tubercular Dis- 

 ease. — Ever since the announcement, 

 by Koch, of the discovery of a bacillus 

 as the cause of tuberculosis, the med- 

 ical journals have been publishing 

 articles about the Bacillus tuberculosis, 

 and the pathology of the disease. It 

 is astonishing to see how many phy- 

 sicians have studied this subject so 

 thoroughly that they have been ready 



to prepare articles upon it for publica- 

 tion, within such a short time. 



We wish to call the attention of our 

 medical readers to the fact that the 

 discoveries announced by Dr. Koch 

 come from a man whose work in con- 

 nection with the organisms of conta- 

 gious diseases has made bin a recog- 

 nized authority upon the subject, — a 

 man whose observations and conclu- 

 sions are not to be lightly thrown 

 aside. 



No man can hope to obtain accurate 

 results in such investigations, until he 

 has passed through a certain amount 

 of preliminary training. So, it does 

 not in the least affect the question to 

 learn that Dr. So and So has found the 

 Bacillus, or that another doctor has not 

 found it, unless those gentlemen have 

 already done a sufficient amount of 

 work of the same kind to enable them 

 to speak as competent observers. 

 Now we do not wish any one to infer 

 that we regard Dr. Koch's observa- 

 tions are conclusive. Far from it. 

 But we do believe that his evidence 

 carries far greater weight than the 

 evidence of many observers who have 

 attempted to criticise and refute it. 

 We wish to caution our readers against 

 accepting too readily the observations 

 of those not trained in this work. The 

 literature treating of the relations of 

 bacteria to diseases is replete with er- 

 rors of observation, mostly due to the 

 superficial character of the work done. 

 No one who has not been practically 

 engaged in the study of bacterial or- 

 ganisms, or who is not at least familiar 

 with the details of the work done by 

 others, can have any adequate concep- 

 tion of the difficulties to be overcome 

 in carrying any course of experiment- 

 ing to a satisfactory issue. Indeed, 

 it would seem that some observers 

 never succeed in this work. If we 

 could only weed out the careless ones, 

 and suppress from publication all 

 erroneous results which originate in 

 careless work, progress would be much 

 more rapid. 



Dr. Schmidt, of New Orleans, a 

 gentleman whose name is familiar to 



