1881.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURiNAL. 



215 



card them from this time forth, and 

 we trust our readers will aid us in 

 keeping them out of both correspond- 

 ence and ordinary conversation. 



In reference to our article on page 

 196, Mr. Charles Stodder, in a private 

 letter to the editor, writes as follows : 

 " In general I concur with you, but 

 not entirely ; you say that an object- 

 ive of 110° will resolve 79,000 lines 

 to the inch. What is the authority 

 for that ? But few of that angle can 

 do that, and some may do much more; 

 and when you come to the crucial 

 test, one observer can see more than 

 another. I always require a higher 

 eye-piece than Mr. Tolles does." 



Perhaps'^we should have stated that 

 79,000 was the number that could be 

 resolved according to theory. In all 

 cases it should be understood that the 

 necessary magnification for the reso- 

 lution of a given test is partly depend- 

 ent upon the eye of the observer. 



o 



Etiology of Malarial Fevers. 

 — In a special report to the National 

 Board of Health, Dr. George M. 

 Sternberg, U. S. A., has given full 

 particulars of his researches in this 

 subject, accompanied by two helio- 

 type plates, and two charts showing 

 the temperature-curves. 



The report begins with a presenta- 

 tion of the views of Klebs and Tom- 

 masi-Crudeli by short quotations from 

 their memoir concerning the Bacillus 

 malarice, which they claim to be the 

 cause of malaria. Dr. Sternberg 

 criticises the evidence upon which 

 their claims are based ; he does not 

 regard it as convincing, nor has he 

 been able to fully indentify the organ- 

 isms which they have figured and 

 described, but he inclines to the be- 

 lief that they have included more than 

 one species of plant under the name 

 £. malarice. Dr. Sternberg does not 

 attach great importance to the colored 

 pigment observed by those authors 

 in the spleen and elsewhere, nor to 

 the enlargement of that organ, since 

 the same features may be observed 

 in rabbits which have died from sep- 



ticaemia. His own experimental re- 

 searches were conducted at New 

 Orleans, much in the same manner 

 as those of Klebs and Tommasi-Cru- 

 deli. An " artificial marsh " was 

 arranged by placing a quantity of 

 mud in tin vessels with perforated 

 bottoms, standing in shallow, porcelain 

 dishes containing water. The organ- 

 isms from the mud were collected by 

 placing a thin cover-glass lightly on 

 the surface. After twenty-four hours 

 the moisture that was usually found 

 condensed upon it would contain the 

 organisms in a good condition for 

 examination. Culture experiments 

 were also conducted, using a solution 

 of fish -gelatin. 



A large number of injection experi- 

 ments were conducted upon rabbits, 

 which are fully detailed in the report. 

 We fail to see how any person who 

 reads the report carefully can fail to 

 agree with the conclusions of the 

 author. He says : " Among the organ- 

 isms found upon the surface of swamp 

 mud, near New Orleans, and in the 

 gutters within the city limits are some 

 which closely resemble, and, perhaps, 

 are identical with, the Bacillus mal- 

 arice of Klebs and Tommasi-Crudeli ; 

 but there is no satisfactory evidence 

 that these or any other of the bacterial 

 organisms found in such situations, 

 when injected beneath the skin of a 

 rabbit, give rise to a malarial fever 

 corresponding with the ordinary 

 paludal fevers to which man is sub- 

 ject." However, although the evi- 

 dence is not strong enough to sustain 

 the opinions of the Italian investiga- 

 tors, it does not follow that the 

 Bacillus malaricB, or some other 

 organism, is not the cause of malarial 

 fevers. " On the other hand, there 

 are many circumstances in favor of 

 the hypothesis that the etiology of 

 these fevers is connected, directly or 

 indirectly, with the presence of these 

 organisms or their germs in the air 

 and water of malarial localities." In 

 the blood no indication of these 

 germs can be found, nevertheless the 

 organisms may not thrive in the 



