68 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Feb. 



The Microscopic Examination of Opium. — Dr. Mjoen 

 (^Ann. de Pharm. and B. and C. D.) has examined 60 samples 

 of opium from the collections in the Pharmaceutical Institutes 

 at Berne and Vienna. From a consideration of his results, he 

 states that the microscope gives the means of determining 

 the orisin of the opium as far as Asia Minor, Persia or India are 

 concerned. He gives the following characteristics of the various 



groups : 



1 . Containing cellular debris f Smyrna. 



of the epidermis of the peri- 1 Constantinople. 



carp ©f the fruit ) Salonica. 



No starch present [^Cleremont. 



2. Complete absence of such ( 



epidermal debris -I Persia. 



Much starch present ( 



. Absence of the epidermal |' p„fj,„ ^ b 



^^«^"«V V 1 Benares j g f" 



No starch present LPunjaub. [ P « 



Dietrich has examined 43 samples from the Institute at 



Vienna, with the following results ; 



1 9.0 ...13.0 per cent morphine. 



2 4.0 .. 6.0 percent morphine. 



3 0.45. ..14.4 per cent morphine. 



BACTERIOLOGY. 



Ripening of Cheese. — Winkler has made some very care- 

 ful studies of Duclaux's species of Tyrothrix. He concludes that 

 it is probable that peptonizing bacteria are the chief factors in 

 the ripening of cheese, but in hard cheese lactic acid species are 

 always more abundant. A probable explanation of this is that 

 possibly peptonizing bacteria in cheese are changed from pep- 

 tonizing to lactic acid, e. g., they have the power of developing 

 lactic acid in a stronger degree. Some of the species of Tyro- 

 thrix (T. tenuis) resemble potato bacillus. All are more or less 

 peptonizing in milk. Butyric acid is only produced by a few. 

 Milk sugar favors growth in most, but it appears to retard pep- 

 tonizing. Duclaux's specie of Tyrothrix are bacilli, often 

 attaining considerable length, produce spores very readily and 

 these can only be destroyed by heating for a short time between 

 100-150° C. The paper is accompanied by two fine plates. 

 (Centralblatt f. Bakt. u. Parasiten Runde, Zweite Abth. I. 618, 

 657). 



