92 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [March 



I think they are. And can we separate the Neo- 

 cene from tlie recent soundings in any respect ? I do not 

 think so. It has been more than hinted at the likeli- 

 hood of the Neocene of California being but recent from 

 comparing them by lithographic reasons, and I think 

 they can also he likened from palsepntologic reasons 

 likewise. We can not distinguish Neocene Bacilliaria, 

 Rhizopoda or Forameaifera from recent which are living 

 now. Although the strata in New Zealand have been 

 placed in the Cretaceous, and at Simbirsk in the lower 

 Eocene, we must expect to see them bearing like forms 

 to the recent, and which live more on the bottom, of the 

 ocean and are in every inlet along the coast. 



Practical Methods of Demonstrating Tubercle Bacilli. 



By W. N. SHERMAN M. D., 

 MERCED, CAL. 

 Read before the San Joaquin Valley Medical Society. 

 When we consider the rapid progress of medical 

 science, we must realize the vast field of literature with 

 which the general practitioner should familiarize himself, 

 in order to keep posted. With such conditions confront- 

 ing us, we must economize our time and adopt methods, 

 that are shortest and quickest, in enabling us to reach 

 conclusions and to obtain results. For this reason the 

 tendency of the science of bacteriolgy is to teach methods 

 by which we can 'most quickly reach results, and thus 

 make a quick and sure diagnosis of contagious and other 

 diseases. In such diseases as cholera and diphtheria, a 

 skillful bacteriologist may, within 24 hours, establish a 

 positive diagnosis, by means of the microscope. In cases 

 of tubercular disease of the lungs, a positive diagnosis 

 may be established in fifteen minutes, when the most 

 careful and skillful physical examination may have failed 

 to reveal the slighest lesion. 



