I.V2 TIIK AiMERICAN MONTHLY |Jmu>, 



nintic to hv loailcil like a «;iui ready to }^o oil wlicn the trij^j^cr is 

 pulled, a tul tliat t lie explosion should he the paroxvsni of asthma. It 

 is possible to have tlie .S'. asthma without a paroxysm, lii my own 

 case it is possible I mijjht have contracted or sowetl the phint iVom 

 studving for so manv years specimens which contained Spirilina 

 asthma, espcciallv as my breath tlirectly passes over the specimens 

 on the stajje of the mici'oscoj)e. I have been such an enthusiastic 

 admirer of" the beauties of the .V. asthma that I could not help lin- 

 jjcr injj long and del ii^htedlv over this American contribution to clini- 

 cal medicine. The modes of propajjjation are not known, and I may 

 be wronjx J«>^ to the iilea of mv catchinj; it throu»;h the breath. It 

 is a parasitic plant to be studietl. and the object of this paper is to 

 call attention to it. have it better known and its biolojry better 

 maile out for the benefit of a large c?lass of chronic invalids whose 

 sutVerinys are known, but whose causesof sutl'ering arc not known. 



To Collect the Spiralina. — Take some of the morning sputum 

 of old asthmatics, dry on a piece of white writing-paper, a way from 

 the stove or sun. A mass one inch in diameter is enough. The 

 specimen will keep thus indefinitely if put in an envelope and 

 stored in a drv place, awav from insects or mice. Hy this mode of 

 mounting asthmatic sputum can be sent in a letter arountl the 

 earth. For examination this dried specimen is moistened with 

 clear water and soaked until as fluid as when expectorated. Then 

 a small portion of the sputum may be transferred to a slide by 

 means of a wooden toothpick fresh and clean, which catches the 

 slippery mucus, anti which I have foimd to answer best in handling 

 the slimy, sticky, and hard-to-manipulate sputum Once used 

 they are spoiled, and their extreme cheapness makes it ea.sy to al- 

 ways use a new one. After covering so that the sputum is uni- 

 formly dirt'used between the slide and cover, the mount should 

 be placed under a one-inch objective and one-inch ocular. This 

 combination brings out the .5". asthma better than any other 

 power. To save time in clinical work, I use broken slides for cov- 

 ers. I find that more pressure can be exerted, with no danger of 

 fracture, than with the ordinary thin covers. It should be added 

 that my clinical one-cjuarter-inch Tolles has a working distance of 

 about one-quarter inch. 



The Spirilina asthtna shows thus a peculiar lustrous, shining 

 waved spiral or singularly twisted or recurved line, of length 

 varying with the treatment it has had in its travel thr ugh the air- 

 passages, and hence to and on the slide. As said before, it looks 

 like a highly polished gold wire iS carats fine. It is tough as a 

 wire. Dr. Salisbury attributes the peculiar tenacity of asthmatic 

 sputum to its fibre growing in the mucous follicles and ottering a 

 physical resistance to the withdrawal of the sputum by the out- 

 ward motions of the cilia of the cylindrical epithelia of the respi- 

 ratory tract 



It has a peculiar habit of engaging and surroutiding itself with 

 tenacious, gelatinous mucus in fibres or strings more or less 



