1881.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



149 



twenty-four hours in a culture-oven 

 at a temperature of ioo° Fah. The 

 following day the culture-fluid was 

 found to contain a luxuriant growth 

 of filaments, many of which con- 

 tained shining, oval spores, resem- 

 bling the figures of Cohn {Beitrdge, 

 Band II, Taf. XI) and the photographs 

 of Koch (/. c, Taf. XVI, Fig. 3), in 

 which they show the results of the 

 cultivation of B. anthracis for twen- 

 ty-four hours in aqueous humour. 



A fragment of the spleen of the 

 mouse was used to inoculate a 

 small quantity of blood from a 

 healthy rabbit, drawn directly from 

 a vein into a sterilized tube. The 

 anthrax-bacillus multiplied abundant- 

 ly in this blood, growing into long 

 filaments and forming spores as in 

 the culture in Q}!\\c\.txs.-bouillon. On 

 the 13th two minims of this blood- 

 culture were injected into a small 

 rabbit and a still smaller quantity in- 

 to another mouse. The mouse died 

 on the following day and the rabbit 

 on the 1 6th. Upon post-mortem 

 examination an abundance of bacilli 

 were found in the blood, liver and 

 spleen of both of these animals. The 

 mouse was found upon the point of 

 death, but still living, on the 14th, 

 and was killed by crushing its skull. 

 The blood and liver, immediately 

 examined, gave the result above 

 stated. 



I have not pursued these experi- 

 ments any further, as my only object 

 was to get a fresh stock of anthrax- 

 virus and the material from which to 

 make some photo-micrographs of 

 Bacillus anthracis 



The researches of Davaine, Koch, 

 Cohn, Pasteur, Greenfield and others 

 seem to me quite conclusive as to the 

 intimate and essential relation of the 

 Bacillus to the etiology of anthrax, 

 and further confirmation scarcely 

 seems necessary. Moreover, my time 

 is fully occupied by other experi- 

 mental researches. I shall take 

 this opportunity however for making 

 a few remarks upon the staining 

 of bacteria for the purpose of 



making photo-micrographs of them. 

 The method of staining with sul- 

 phuric acid and iodine solution, de- 

 scribed in this Journal a short time 

 ago, has given very satisfactory re- 

 sults when the organism has a distinct 

 cell-wall ; but since writing the note 

 referred to, my experience has led 

 me to think that a stronger solution 

 of iodine (2-5 per cent.) is perhaps 

 quite as efficient, without the acid 

 (for extemporaneous preparations to 

 be photographed at once) ; and I am 

 also inclined to believe that the 

 iodine possesses no special advan- 

 tages over anilin brown, which was 

 recommended by Koch, but which I 

 have only recently tried, not having 

 had a supply of the material. I 

 secured a half-ounce a few days since 

 and have now a sufficient supply 

 for myself and my friends for a long 

 time to come. I find that it dissolves 

 freely in water and stains vegetable 

 protoplasm as deeply as could be de- 

 sired for the strongest photographic 

 contrast. With my five-cent bottle 

 of violet ink, purchased from the 

 stationer, and the anilin brown, I 

 feel that I am supplied with staining 

 material which, so far as the bacteria 

 are concerned, leaves nothing to be 

 desired. I do not, however, expect 

 to discard the iodine solution, which 

 has done me good service, but I re- 

 commend it rather without than with 

 the sulphuric acid, as directed in my 

 previous note. 



o 



Preservative solutions for Bo- 

 tanical Preparations. 



In an opuscle published in 1872 

 by Messrs. Cornu, Gronland and 

 Rivet, but now very rare, a number of 

 useful formulae for preservatives are 

 given which the Editor of Brebissonia 

 has reprinted. We give them here 

 without comment, merely indicating 

 the purposes for which each solution 

 is specially applicable: — 



I. Pure glycerin i volume 



Alcohol I " 



Camphor-water i " 



