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THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[September, 



the aforesaid bordering bands, through 

 the oesophagus into the stomach. Now, 

 in studying a series of sections of a salpa 

 which had had abundant food, we find as 

 we approach the oesophagus a mass of 

 material answering to the description of 

 KorotnofiTs "rhizopod." It takes stain- 

 ing readily, and may be traced backward 

 into and through the oesophagus, stom- 

 ach, and intestine. As the sections ap- 

 proach the rectum, however, the mass 

 gradually ceases to take staining, and is 

 much more distinctly marked out from 

 the intestinal wall, having had all the or- 

 ganic matter digested out, and consisting 

 only of the inorganic remains, which do 

 not stain. The alimentary matter of sal- 

 pae is composed of animal and vegetal 

 elements in nearly equal proportions, and 

 the microscope reveals the calcareous 

 shells of foraminifera, the beautifully 

 sculptured frustules of diatomaceae, keen 

 siliceous needles, and the sharp arma- 

 tures of minute Crustacea.' 



— The Madras Titnes publishes a letter 

 from a correspondent who asserts that 

 vaccination was practiced from a very 

 early date by the Hindoo Vythians. 

 There will be found an extract of a letter 

 to the Madras Courier, dated January, 

 1 819, which is as follows: 'Inoculation 

 for the cow-pox was known of old time 

 to the Hindoo medical writers. To sub- 

 stantiate this statement it is necessary 

 only to refer to the Sacteya Grantham. 

 In this work, after describing nine several 

 species of the small-pox, of which three 

 are declared incurable, the author pro- 

 ceeds to lay down the rules for the prac- 

 tice of inoculation. From this part the 

 following extract is taken: "Take the 

 fluid of the pock on the udder of a cow, 

 or on the arm between the shoulder and 

 elbow of a human subject, on the point of 

 a lancet and lance with it the arm be- 

 tween the shoulder and elbow until blood 

 appears; then, mixing the fluid with the 

 blood, the fever of the small-pox will be 

 produced." If further proof is required 

 that long before the English came to 

 India inoculation proper was practiced, a 

 translation of a paper in the language of 

 Orissa called Odiah, describing the man- 

 ner in which the inhabitants of villages 

 are inoculated by Odiah Brahmins, is 

 given below: "A certain quantity of cot- 

 ton to be wetted with the matter of a fa- 

 vorable small-pox, and from two hundred 

 to four hundred people assembled on 

 Sunday and Thursday, a cut to be given 

 upon their arms with an instrument." 

 Small-pox was accurately described by 



Rhazes, an Arabian, about the year 900. 

 It is supposed to have been introduced 

 into Europe by the Saracens.' — Medical 

 Press. 



— Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes has been 

 making some calculations, through which 

 the magnifying power of the achromatic 

 microscope may be the more clearly con- 

 ceived. Estimating from the extent to 

 which it magnifies the minutest piece of 

 human skin placed under its lens, the 

 man of ordinary stature, proportionately 

 enlarged throughout, would measure just 

 one mile in height — ten times overtopping 

 the loftiest of the pyramids and twenty 

 times the tallest of our church spires. 

 His weight would be sixty million tons, 

 and he could take up the Massachusetts 

 State House as he would a paving stone, 

 and fling it into the waters beyond the 

 Boston Light-house. — Medical Age. 



— Dr. Frank L. James, in the National 

 Druggist, gives the following method of 

 preparing picro-carmine. The author is 

 quite mistaken in supposing that formu- 

 las for preparing it are not readily avail- 

 able. On page 22 of the first volume of 

 this Journal is given an excellent method 

 by Prof. Gage, and we still have a portion 

 of the solution made at that time by Prof. 

 Gage, which is as good now as when it 

 was made : — 



' Picro-carmine is one of the most valu- 

 able staining agents that the student of 

 histology has at his command. The for- 

 mula of preparing it, for some unaccount- 

 able reason, is not given in any of the 

 standard works on the subject, and micro- 

 scopists are forced to purchase it from 

 dealers at exorbitant prices. The follow- 

 ing is the process used in my laboratory 

 for preparing a very satisfactory article : 

 Dissolve 1 5 grains of the best carmine in 

 the smallest quantity possible of stronger 

 water of ammonia, and add distilled water 

 enough to make one ounce of the solu- 

 tion. In a separate vessel dissolve 75 

 grains of picric acid in the smallest amount 

 of boiling distilled water, making a satu- 

 rated solution. When cold pour the two 

 solutions together, and let stand in a 

 closely-stoppered bottle for several days, 

 giving it an occasional shake. At the 

 expiration of four or five days filter the 

 solution, and pour the filtrate into flat 

 dishes; saucers or soup plates will do. 

 Cover with a plate of glass close enough 

 to keep out dust, but not so closely as to 

 prevent evaporation. Put in a moder- 

 ately warm place, and let stand until the 

 fluid has entirely evaporated, leaving a 



