228 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [July 



about equal to that obtained by Yersin at the Pasteur In- 

 stitute, and comparable to the sera of cholera and of en- 

 teric fever previously prepared by Symmers himself at the 

 British institute of Preventive Medicine. On the whole, it 

 appears the sera in the present experiments did not have a 

 sufficiently high antitoxic valve to warrant any hope of 

 their being- of therapeutic use in an actual epidemic of 

 plague. It was suggested that for the latter purpose more 

 virulent bacilli should be employed, and that the injections 

 of cultures thereof should be carried out in large quantities 

 and for longer times on horses, under which conditions a 

 more effective antitoxic serum might probably be obtained 

 to serve the purposes of practical treatment in actual cases 

 of plague. — British Medical Journal. 



The Cancer Microbes. — Dr. Roux, of the Pasteur Insti- 

 tute in Paris, disclaims all knowledge of Dr. Bra, the dis- 

 coverer of an alleged microbe of cancer, and affirms his 

 disbelief in the authenticity of the discovery. Another 

 cancer microbe has been described by Dr. Plimmer, of 

 London. He claims to have isolated certain micro-organ- 

 isms which, he believes, stand in causal relationship to 

 cancerous growths. These organisms possess great vi- 

 tality, and multiply under conditions which prove fatal to 

 most other pathogenic microbes. They are capable of cul- 

 tivation; and inoculation of animals with these cultures, 

 Dr, Plimmer says, is followed by the production of carci- 

 noma. The organism differs in toto from the one describ- 

 ed by Dr. Bra, of Paris. 



MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETIES. 



Royal Microscopical Society. — May, 1899. The presi- 

 dent called special attention to two old microscopes. The 

 first, which had been presented to the society by Mr. J. M. 

 Offord, was signed "Adams," and was a very interesting 

 model, which filled up a gap in the historic collection of the 

 society. Its probable date was about 1785-95. The second 

 microscope, which had been presented by Dr. Dallinger, 

 was full of interest, and evidently constructed about the 



