1881.] 



MICKOSCOPICAL JOUE^NAL. 



that milk globules, can be seen to 

 germinate and to produce long fila- 

 ments which resemble the mycelium 

 of Pennicillium. When we consider 

 the nature of milk globules, which 

 consist essentially of fatty matter, 

 perhaps with a membranous invest- 

 ment, the utter absurdity of the en- 

 tire article will be patent. The prin- 

 cipal authority referred to by Dr. 

 Mott, is M. Turpin, whose contribu- 

 tion was published in the year 1837. 

 As an indication of the nature of his ex- 

 periments, we quote from Dr. Mott's 

 article as follows : " If, he says, as I 

 have done many times, globules of 

 cow's milk are spread out between two 

 plates of thin glass, * * * these 

 globules will soon be seen to germin- 

 fite and produce the Pennicillmm 

 glaucum up to its last stage of fructi- 

 fication." This simple process is 

 presumed to preclude any contamin- 

 ation with fungus spores ! If Dr. 

 Mott does not know that his article 

 conveys false information to the 

 readers of the Dairyfnan, then the 

 fact should be made known to him. 

 The conclusions are no more firmly 

 established than are those which he 

 has announced as the results of his 

 own observations upon the fungoid 

 origin of diphtheria, the microscopic 

 characters of oleomargarine, or the 

 poisonous action of bread made with 

 alum baking powders. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



To THE Editor : — The January num- 

 ber of the Journal is at hand, and as 

 the second paragraph of the article enti- 

 tled " A New Objective," evidently refers 

 to a statement of mine made some time 

 ago, I ask permission to offer a few words 

 of explanation. I think the old doctor 

 gave his student excellent advice when he 

 told him Jirst to diagnose his case — then 

 give his medicine. 



I have never tried to convince anyone 

 that there is any practical use in an ampli- 

 fication of 30,000 diameters, but I have 

 used this power in testing objectives and 

 also for certain micrometric manipula- 

 tions. But I do not and have not claimed, 

 in any instance, that I ever saw a struc- 



ture with 30,000 which I could not see 

 with 1,000 diameters. But I do claim, 

 and think I have fairly demonstrated, that 

 as high a power may be obtained by a J^ 

 or ^ objective as with a ^ or ^. In 

 the first case a higher eye-piece is needed 

 while a comfortable working-distance is 

 kept, but in the second case the working- 

 distance is encroached upon to such an 

 extent as to make it very annoying. If 

 the camera-lucida is used it is necessary 

 to use the lower eye-pieces ; even the ^ 

 inch eye-piece will present difficulties, but 

 in all other cases it seems more conve- 

 nient to have greater working-distance. 



In deciding which of two objectives is 

 the better one, it quite frequently happens 

 that there is no perceptible difference 

 under low eye-pieces, and if the question 

 is decided at all, it must be done under 

 high eye-pieces, when, if there is any 

 difference, it is shown. But this has 

 nothing to do with general observations, 

 for which there is no use for higher 

 powers than those which show the object 



^^^^' Allen Y. Moore. 



o 



To THE Editor : — The communica- 

 tion of Dr. Detmers (page 37), and your 

 remarks on the same, have been read with 

 interest. Before accepting Dr. Detmers' 

 observations with the homogeneous im- 

 mersion j^, would it not be well to under- 

 stand what he refers to, when he speaks 

 of seeing the flagella of Bacterium ter- 

 mo ? In his last report he refers to an 

 organism under this name, which most 

 people would class with the bacilli.* 

 When Dr. Dallinger speaks of this organ- 

 ism, we know that he refers to the genu- 

 ine elliptical schizophyte ; but, even then, 

 were it not for this high authority, we 

 should have doubts as to the certainty 

 of the glimpse of this organ, seen after 

 five hours' incessant watching. We 

 should hardly believe our own eyes under 

 such circumstances. The flagella, of 

 certain bacilli, are much more easily seen. 



Your readers may remember that it was 

 only two years ago that Dr. Detmers de- 

 scribed the schizophyte of swine plague 

 as a bacillus with globular spores. He 

 was certain of this, because he had 

 watched the globular bodies germinate 

 and form bacilli, t This was with a Hart- 



* Report Department of Agriculture, 1879, 

 Fig. 8 of Chart, object 1 ; also, text, last 

 three lines of page 414. 



f Report Department of Agriculture, 1878, 

 p. 362. 



