56 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[March, 



Medicine. In this article he cites the 

 case of a gentleman who was affected 

 with tubercular disease, communicat- 

 ing the malady to three pet dogs in 

 succession, and these, with a number 

 of other cases, seem to leave no room 

 for doubt of the contagiousness of the 

 disease. 



Dr. H. Formad, of Philadelphia, 

 has, however, taken a vigorous stand 

 against Dr. Ko::h's conclusions. He 

 has written an able article for the 

 Philadelphia Medical Times expressing 

 his views regarding the cause of tuber- 

 cular disease, and he does not admit 

 that any bacterial organism takes 

 part in the production or course of 

 the disease. He explains the devel- 

 opement of tubercle as due to a pecu- 

 liar condition of serous membranes, 

 which may be either peculiar to the 

 individual, or induced by injury to nor- 

 mal and healthy membranes. He 

 maintains it is proved that no infect- 

 ive agent is required to produce tuber- 

 culosis. While he does not deny that 

 Koch's Bacillus may be capable of 

 producing the disease, he asserts that 

 there are at present no proofs either for 

 or against it. The fact that the bacilli 

 aie abundant in tubercle-tissue but 

 disappear when the latter undergoes 

 cheesey degeneration and softening, is 

 brought forward as an argument 

 against the conclusions of Dr. Koch. 

 Dr. Formad also declares that he has 

 been unable to discover that the Haal- 

 lus tuberculosis is distinguished from 

 any other bacilli as regards the action 

 of staining fluids. 



ERRATA. 



Errata to the article by Mr. Charles Stodder in the 

 February number: — 



Page 30. In title, for Diatomacae read Diatomacese. 



Page3r. First column : — 



Line 12. For Ca'uipeUodiscus Ehr., read Cmnpelo- 

 disciis, Ehr. = 



Line 15. After tnusica insert ( ?). 



Line 24. For Actinocyclus read Actnoptycus. 



Line 26. ¥ox pruinosis read pruinosus. 



Line 29. For inucilenla read macilciita. 



Line 30. For A vipliiptenni read A m^hiprora. 



Page 3 1. Second Column : — 



Line 9. ¥ or pruinosis rea.d pruinosits. 



Line 30. For 20 read 22. 



Page 32. First column : — 



Line 5. For spicules read spherules. 



Line 3 from bottom. For s.r. read s.v. 



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A Moist-Chamber for Cultiva- 

 tions. — Our experience with various 

 kinds of growing-slides has not been 

 very satisfactory. Very likely all the 

 different forms proposed have some 

 merits ; but none of them, as far as 

 our experience goes, have proved con- 

 venient and entirely successful. The 

 most satisfactory arrangement that we 

 have used for keeping growing objects 

 alive, and in a healthy condition for 

 long periods of time, is that employed 

 by Drs. Dal linger and Drysdale in 

 their studies of minute monads. In 

 that apparatus the slides could be 

 taken directly from the microscope, 

 and placed in a moist chamber, where 

 the organisms would remain in a 

 perfectly healthy condition for any 

 length of time. 



Having occasion to watch the 

 development of some cells of algae 

 not long ago, and having no moist 

 chamber at hand, two methods were 

 devised, and immediately put in 

 practice. The first was practically 

 the method commonly adopted for 

 cultivating fungi. A small salt-cellar 

 was inverted in a dish of water to 

 serve as a support for the specimens, 

 and a tumbler was inverted over this. 

 The specimens were placed on glass 

 slips, made by cutting an ordinary 

 slide across the middle, and covered 

 with thin glass. Small slips were used, 

 because two of them could be sup- 

 ported on the salt-cellar under the 

 tumbler. 



The other plan, however, we prefer. 

 A piece of glass, four inches square, 

 is placed upon a support so that it is 

 about on a level with the top of a dish 

 to hold water — an ice-cream saucer is 

 what we used. A piece of blotting 



