244 THE AMERICA^ MONTHLY [Aug 



Recent Work in Clinical Microscopy. 



H. A. L. RYFKOGElv, M. D. 



Although no such important discovery as the Widal re- 

 action has been made in the line of clinical microscopy 

 during the past year, nevertheless a certain amount of 

 work of permanent value has been accomplished. This 

 has, to a great extent, consisted in the further applica- 

 tion of methods previously evolved, such as the applica- 

 tion of the Widal reaction to leprosy, the perfection of 

 the bacteriological diagnosis of influenza, and the advanc- 

 ing our knowledge concerning eosinophil cells in sputum. 



However, the year lias not been wholly lacking in orig- 

 inal results from investigations in clinical microscopy. 

 Thus the cultivation of the bacillus of Ducrey, and the 

 practical use of Sudan III as a fat dye, and as a stain for 

 the bacillus of tuberculosis must be recognized as origi- 

 nal work recently accomplished. 



On hematological subjects much has been written and 

 considerable work has been done. Perhaps the most im- 

 portant investigation of the year on the blood has been 

 that of Simon on the significance of Neusser's granules. 

 When Neusser in 1894 announced the discovery of these 

 granules, he advanced the claim that their presence was 

 pathognomonic of the uric-acid diathesis in all its protean 

 manifestations. He excepted certain tuberculous cases, in 

 which the granules were seen, and in these he believed 

 their presence to be a good prognostic sign. Simon, quite 

 contrary to these observations, found in the blood of every 

 healthy person he examined abundance of these granules; 

 further, he usually found them in the majority of dis- 

 eases, whether uric-acidemia or not ; in fact, the only 

 cases in which he could not find them were a number of 

 cases of malignant disease, one of acute gonorrhea and two 

 of gastric ulcer. Thus it appears that the absence rather 

 than the presence of these bodies may be of import. 



