62 



THE PHASES OF 



clusters of microeocci could be seen characteristic of putrefaction, there- 

 fore gangrene of the tissue. The inflammatory corpuscles looked very pale 

 and finely granular, the evidence of a bad, phthisical constitution, and all 

 these signs together allowed the diagnosis of a limited viability, hence the 

 disastrous prognosis. The doctor told us that no physical symptoms could be 

 found in the lungs justifying my diagnosis. Still he admitted right away 

 that the patient was a pale-looking, thin, and narrow-chested young man, 

 whose brother had been sent to Florida some time ago for chronic tubercu- 

 losis of the lungs. One week afterward, the doctor came to tell me that the 

 physical symptoms at present were so marked in the lungs, that the diagnosis 

 of catarrhal pneumonia was evident. Seven weeks afterward the patient 

 was dead. 



The facts here laid before the medical profession may con- 

 vince even the most skeptical physician that microscopy is 



destined to play an impor- 

 tant part in the science of 

 medicine. Let us proceed 

 in skillful, honest work, and 

 we shall succeed in raising 

 the standard of microscopy 

 still higher, and make it not 

 only a valuable, but rather 

 an indispensable, assistance 

 to clinical work. Much more 

 could and should be done in 

 this country by the profes- 

 sion at large than is done 

 at present, for the perfection 

 of that most interesting and 

 useful science, the science of 

 ourselves Biology. 



Only little is to be added 

 to these assertions. Several 

 years' more study has con- 

 vinced me of their correct- 

 ness, and the difference in 

 the appearance of bioplas- 

 son, according to the differ- 

 ence in the general consti- 

 tution, is so striking as to 

 admit of a diagrammatic 

 representation, for which 

 we may choose pus-corpus- 

 cles. (See Fig. 20.) 



tt** 



Cot* "ttV" 



*5 





FIG. 20. DIAGRAM OF PUS-CORPUSCLES 

 OF PERSONS OF A DIFFERENT CONSTI- 

 TUTION. 



E, pus-corpuscle of an excellent constitution ; the 

 bioplasson nearly compact, containing a few small 

 vacuoles, alive in a, alive and contracted in b, dead 

 and contracted in c. G, pus-corpuscles of a good 

 constitution; the bioplasson coarsely granular, 

 alive in a, alive and contracted in b, dead and 

 contracted in c. M, pus-corpuscle of a middling 

 good constitution ; the bioplasson less coarse, with 

 a compact nucleus ; alive in a, amoeboid in &, dead 

 in c. P, pus-corpuscle of a poor constitution ; the 

 bioplasson comparatively scarce, finely granular, 

 vesicular nuclei very distinct ; alive in a, amoeboid 

 in b, dead and bursted in c. 



