1881.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURT^AL. 



13 



ganism, to wliicli it is tacitly agreed 

 to join all the bacilli that are not 

 yet classified, with a laudable desire 

 to avoid confusion. 



Leptothrix, Kntzing. — The fila- 

 ments of leptothrix are long, mo- 

 tionless, not ramifying, without vis- 

 ible partitions, and are not charac- 

 terized by any physiological function 

 worthy of mention. Ch. Robin 

 has described Leptothrix huecaUs, 

 which he considers, with reason, 

 may belong to the bacilli. 



Vibrio. — The species forming 

 this genus are readily distinguished 

 from those of the -preceding ; they 

 are always motile, of soft consist- 

 ence, without rigidity and progress 

 in an undulating manner like eels. 

 MuUer has described Vibrio serpens 

 and rugula. M. Pasteur has pub- 

 lished, in a recent memoir, his re- 

 searches on an anaerobic vibrione 

 which may be the cause of septi- 



cemia. 



There are, besides, microbes very 

 elegant in form, curved like a helix, 

 which have been named spirillae 

 {Spirillimi, Spirochcete, Ehr.). One 

 of them, the Spirochcete Oher- 

 meieri, has been found in the blood 

 of patients suffering from recurrent 

 fevers. Dr. Heydenreich has pub- 

 lished a monograph upon this or- 

 ganism. In forty-six cases of re- 

 current fever, studied with great 

 care by him, the organism discover- 

 ed by Obermeyer always appeared 

 in the blood during the crisis, to 

 disappear during the remission. 

 Placing the blood of a patient in 

 one of the halls of the hospital, at 

 the ordinary temperature, the doctor 

 has observed the spirillum die at 

 the end of several days, at the tem- 

 perature of the body it lives only 

 ten or twelve hours, and it dies at 

 the end of four hours at a temper- 

 ature precisely equal to that of 

 fevers. In consequence of these 

 experiments several persons volun- 



tarily submitted to inoculation with 

 the helix-like organism and became 

 affected with recurrent fever. 



A New Objectiye. 



A correspondent of the English 

 Mechanic describes a new oil-im- 

 mersion of Powell and Lealand, 

 which he states has an aperture of 

 142° measured in a crown-glass 

 semi-cylinder, having a mean index 

 of refraction of 1.5, nearly. The 

 front lens, which is more than a 

 hemisphere by several degrees, is 

 mounted on a plate of glass .003 of 

 an inch thick ; the focal length is 

 .007 of an inch. It is decidedly 

 superior to other objective with 

 which it has been compared. 



We would suggest to the writer 

 of the communication referred to, 

 that it is not fair to judge as to the 

 opinions of American microscopists 

 from the vagaries of a few indivi- 

 duals. The fact is, in our opinion, 

 that the microscopists of this country 

 generally hold very sensible opinions 

 about objectives, and it will be a 

 very difficult matter indeed to con- 

 vince tliem that there is any advan- 

 tage in powers of 30,000 diameters 

 and eye-pieces of 1-50 of an inch 

 focal length. 



EDITORIAL. 



— Two of the articles in this num- 

 ber are printed with the type which 

 was used last year, for the reason 

 that they were already set up for the 

 December number. The Journal 

 has now assumed the appearance 

 which it was our intention to give to 

 it at the beginning, and there will be, 

 so far as the size of the type is con- 

 cerned, no further change. However, 

 we do not propose to stop here in 

 the improvement of our publication ; 

 as soon as the increase of the patron- 

 age that has thus far rewarded our 



