1897] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 167 



first observation is made, an injection should be g-iven un- 

 less the prog-ress of the case is favorable and satisfactory. 



Bacteria in the Urine in Non-bacterial Febrile Disease. 

 — Chvostek and Eg-g-er (Wiener Klin. Woch., 1896, No. 30) 

 report the occurrence of bacteria in the urine in paroxysms 

 of malaria and in fever produced by injections of tuber- 

 culin. As the experiments were conducted in such a way 

 as to exclude the usual causes of error in such observa- 

 tions, the authors believe that fever serves in some way 

 to favor the excretion of micro org-anisms, thoug-h no bac- 

 terial disease in the usual sense exists. They sug-g-est 

 that this ma}^ be simply the exag-g^eration of a process 

 which must occur at times in healthy persons. Bacteria 

 g-ain entrance to the blood in various ways, perhaps most 

 frequently by way of the lymphatics, and are finally ex- 

 creted with the urine. These g-erms are probably more 

 or less lowered in vitality, so that they cannot often be 

 cultivated successfully; but in fevers such as the authors 

 worked with, the excretion is more rapid. These and 

 other observations show that the presence of non-specific 

 bacteria, especially the Staphylococcus albus, in the urine 

 cannot be looked upon as of g-reat importance, and that 

 other facts must be broug-ht forward in order to prove 

 their relation to the disease. 



BIOLOGICAL NOTES. 



The Scandal on Oysters.-— At the recent meeting- of the 

 British Medical Association, Professors Boyce and Herd- 

 man took pains to show what persons familiar with the 

 natural history of the oyster have known all along-, that it 

 is not a scaveng-er, as some people have ig-norantly alleg-ed 

 but a cleanly and docile animal of slow movement and over- 

 J:rustful of its pampering- caretakers. Consequently it has 

 been most foully treated. The professors cited and veri- 

 fied facts that had been before stated — namely, that when 

 oysters were laid down in pure water a natural process of 



