1885.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



79 



do not hold Mr. Pasteur responsible for the 

 latter — there are cranks in all professions. 



— We are indebted to Mr. W. H. Pratt, 

 of Taunton, Mass., for two of his neatly 

 mounted preparations, one of stained 

 pollen-grains of the sunflower, the other 

 spores of the fern Osinitnda cinnamomea. 

 Both are stained green. 



— We have also received, from Mr. 

 George Freeston, of Oswego, N. Y., two 

 excellent preparations of Volvox and other 

 algae, which are unusually well preserved. 

 One of the preparations contains some Spi- 

 rogyra showing the fruiting condition very 

 perfectly, and some of the finest mounted 

 specimens of Nostoc we have seen. 



— The microscopical societies of Easton 

 and Bethlehem, Pa., gave an exhibition 

 at Bethlehem on the evening of February 

 1 8th, at which a short address was deliv- 

 ered by the Rev. Mr. WoUe, followed by 

 a display of objects by both societies. The 

 meeting was well attended, the hall being 

 crowded with visitors, eager to see the 

 many wonderful things revealed by the 

 microscopes. 



— We have also received notice of two 

 meetings of the San Francisco society, 

 one of which was the annual meeting, 

 when an address was delivered by the 

 President, Mr. G. M. Kinne. This so- 

 ciety is in a prosperous condition, and 

 some good papers are expected during 

 the year. 



— It is feared by many persons that 

 there will be an outbreak of cholera dur- 

 ing the present year in this country. The 

 disease advances steadily when once 

 started on its way, and if we escape it, it 

 will be almost a miracle. That its intro- 

 duction could probably be prevented by 

 an efficient health board acting for the 

 general government, we have no doubt. 

 Congress has not realized the importance 

 of a health department, and the National 

 Board of Health has, from want of appro- 

 priations, only a nominal existence. It 

 is doubtful if economy in this direction is 

 economy at all. Another serious epidemic 

 will, perhaps, demonstrate more clearly 

 than the last, that prevention secured by the 

 annual expenditure of a few thousand 

 dollars every year, is far better than the 

 loss of life and depression of business al- 

 ways caused by an epidemic, which costs 

 the country hundreds of thousands. 



— While other governments are aiding 

 the investigation of contagious diseases, j 

 by furnishing laboratories and placing j 

 funds at the command of competent men ' 



to conduct important observations, what 

 is our own government doing in this di- 

 rection ? Not only is its penurious policy 

 shown in regard to appropriations for 

 health officers, but it offers to its ablest 

 and most unselfish investigators, who 

 have already conducted many experi- 

 ments of great importance, the privilege 

 of doing as much work as they please at 

 their own cost. This is the way the most 

 advanced and enlightened and progres- 

 sive country in the world encourages 

 scientific researches I 



— Referring to cholera above, it will be 

 of interest in the same connection to 

 quote from an article by Dr. Max von 

 Pettenkofer, in Popular Science Monthly. 

 He writes as follows : — 



' The disease is best known in Europe 

 under the names of cholera, cholera mor- 

 bus, Asiatic cholera, since the epidemic 

 of 1817 to 1819, in which the English army, 

 under the command of the Marquis of 

 Hastings during a war against the natives, 

 was rendered unfit for fighting and al- 

 most annihilated. But cholera had never 

 visited Europe till the present century, 

 when in 1830 it appeared in Russia and 

 spread to Poland, where war was prevail- 

 ing. Since that time, sometimes at longer 

 and sometimes at shorter intervals, cholera 

 has appeared in Europe. The question 

 why cholera remained a thousand years 

 in India before it first began to migrate is 

 one of great interest, but one which can- 

 not be satisfactorily answered. The prin- 

 cipal consideration appears to me to be 

 that the event happened at the time when 

 intercommunication in all directions, both 

 by water and land, had become more 

 rapid. The first steamship appeared in 

 the Indian waters at the beginning of the 

 second decade of the present century. 

 By land also intercourse was greatly ac- 

 celerated. The Russians possibly took 

 cholera from India, Arabia, Afghanistan, 

 or Persia, through couriers and stage- 

 coaches. It soon became clear that chol- 

 era, the specific cholera-germ, was in some 

 way or other propagated along the paths 

 of human intercourse, and it also became 

 evident that unless the germs found a 

 suitable soil within a certain time they 

 did not flourish. Observers soon dis- 

 covered that cholera was more prone to 

 appear in certain regions and to affect 

 certain localities, while it shunned other 

 districts; and, again, that other regions 

 were only visited at intervals of many 

 years. It is also a fact that Asiatic chol- 

 era never yet appeared at a place which 

 had not previously been in communica- 



