1893.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 235 



mine, to this add slowly the concentrated solution of picric acid 

 uniil the mixture has ii blood-red color, kee))ina shallow di.sh 

 until all odor of the ammonia has disappeared, filter, keej) in a 

 well sto]»pered bottle, add a few drops of carbolic acid. Filter 

 before using, — Jour. British Dental Association. 



BACTERIOLOGY. 



The Distribution of the Bacilli of Diptheria in the 

 human Body. — The opinion has been generally entertained 

 heretofore, that the bacilli of diptheria were localized in the 

 false membrane characteristic of the disease. 



Frosch (Zeit.f. Hygine XIII, 1893, pp. 49) gives the results 

 of his investigation of fifteen fatal cases of diptheria. In five of 

 these the si)ecific bacteria were not found in the internal organs, 

 in the other ten the diptheria bacilli were insolated from the 

 blood and various organs. The bacterlogical examinations were 



made as soon as possible after the death of the patient. The 

 ordinary method of making agar plates was employed. In some 

 of the cases, the bacilli were unusally distributed through the 

 body, as indicated by their insolation from the blood, spleen, 

 liver, kindey, cervical and bronchial lymphatic glands, lungs 

 (when hepatized). pericadial and pleurtic efifusion, and the 

 brain. In a few cases they appeared in the cultures from the 

 spleen or kidneys only. Babes, Kolisko and Paltauf, and Spronck 

 are the only observers who have made similiar observations 

 in the past. The results obtained by Frosch bring out with 

 clearness a very important fact in the pathology of diptheria. 



The Preparation of HafFkine's Anti-Cholera Vac- 

 cines. — According to Haffkine's method protection against chol- 

 era is brought about by acclimatizing the system first to a weak 

 virus and afterwards to a strong cholera poison. The materials 

 u.sed in bringing about such a condition in the normal body, and 

 the method of preparing the same are described by Wright, in a 

 recent number of the British Medical Journal (Feb. 4, 1893). 

 The vaccines consist of emulsions of attenuated and of exalted 

 cholera cultures. They may be of two kinds. An emulsion (1) 

 of the living cholera bacilli (living vaccines), or (2) of cholera 

 bacilli that have been killed by action of diluted carbolic acid 



