1889.] M1CE0SC0PICAL JOUENAL. 159 



MEDICAL MICROSCOPY.* 



The Annals of Gynecology for June contains some excellent photo- 

 micrographs of normal and diseased mucous membrane of the Fallopian 

 tube. The formation of glandular pockets, penetrating into the mus- 

 cular tissue in chronic salpingitis, is well shown. Other photographs 

 are promised for July. Considering the importance now assigned to 

 chronic salpingitis, anything that throws light upon its histology is 

 welcome. 



Development of the Crystalline Lens. — The Brooklyn Medi- 

 cal Journal for June contains a paper with the above title by Dr. Rich- 

 mond Lennox. The various stages in the embryonic development of 

 the lens are clearl) r described in the text, and following are 34 figures 

 illustrating sections (highly magnified) of the eye of the chick, calf, 

 and child from the time of formation of the medullary groove on the 

 second day of incubation to the time of full development. We call 

 this fine work. The merit of the paper is that it makes plain to the 

 student of embryology the development of this organ, and the plates 

 are i-eally artistic. Incidentally the theory of the formation of congen- 

 ital cataract is explained. 



The same journal also contains a lecture by Dr. Sternberg on " Dis- 

 infection," and a paper by Geo. T. Kemp, Ph. D., on "Bacillus Tu- 

 berculosis and Diathesis in Pulmonary Phthisis." The latter is an 

 answer to Dr. Hull's article in the number for October, 1S8S, and in- 

 sists upon the importance of diathesis and environment in the produc- 

 tion of phthisis. Altogether the June number is very valuable. 



Motor Centre for the Larynx. — Dr. D. B. Delavan is still work- 

 ing at the problem of a " Cortical Motor Centre for the Human 

 Larynx." In the N. T. Medical Journal for June 22, 1889, he re- 

 ports an interesting case bearing upon this point. The patient had 

 hemiplegia in 1877. All the symptoms of paralysis gradually disap- 

 peared, except that the abductor laryngeal muscles of the left side re- 

 mained paralyzed until death, which occurred from other disease in 

 188S. A careful post-mortem, with microscopic examination of brain 

 and medulla, was made. The principal lesion discovered was a soft- 

 ened tract in the left side of the medulla about the root strands of the 

 vagus nerve, and involving the ventral vagus nucleus. The case, there- 

 fore, seems to confirm the motor character of this nucleus, and to leave 

 the question of a cortical motor centre for the laiynx still open. A 

 parallel case, with identical lesion, is referred to, reported in Archiv 

 fur Psychiatrie, 1888, p. 314. 



Scalp Diseases. — A frequent cause of the falling out of hair is the 

 number of diseases of the hair and scalp which are positively known 

 to be contagious, the germs from which they spring having been fully 

 defined under the microscope. 



* This department is conducted by F. Blanch ard, M. D. 



