TUBERCULOSIS. 301 



spread into an even film by a very fine platinum wire, 

 while the cover-glass was rotated upon a "turn-table." 

 After spreading, the cover-glasses were laid upon a level 

 brass plate slightly warmed to facilitate drying. After 

 drying, the cover-glasses were coated with a serum film 

 by spraying, and the temperature raised to 8o°-90° C. to 

 coagulate the serum and retain the bacteria in place, 

 after which they were carefully stained with carbol- 

 fuchsin and decolorized with a solution of 150 parts of 

 water, 50 parts of alcohol, and 20-30 drops of pure sul- 

 phuric acid. Prior to this the cover-glass was washed in 

 three alcohols and subsequently in water, and if necessary 

 in acid and alcohol again. 



A special arrangement of the microscope was devised 

 for the purpose, and the number of bacilli' in each drop 

 estimated with extreme care. The number varied from 

 472 to 240,000. To estimate the number of bacilli in a 

 given quantity the number of drops to a cubic centimeter 

 is multiplied by the number of bacilli in the drop, and 

 then by the number of cubic centimeters to be estimated. 



The method is an ingenious one, but a glance down 

 the columns of figures in the original article will be 

 sufficient to show that the counting of the bacilli is 

 devoid of any practical value. 



This is only to be expected when one considers the 

 pathology of the disease and remembers that accidents, 

 such as unusually violent cough one day, modified by 

 the use of sedatives the next, may cause wide variations 

 in the quality if not in the quantity of the sputum. 



The detection of tubercle bacilli in the urine is some- 

 times easy, sometimes difficult. The centrifuge should 

 be used and the collected sediment spread upon the glass. 

 If there is no albumin in the urine, it is well to add a 

 little white of egg in securing a good fixation of the 

 urinary sediment to the glass. The staining is identical 

 with that of sputum, but it must be remembered that the 

 smegma bacillus is apt to be present in the urine and, 

 therefore, the precaution should be taken of washing the 



