1898.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 225 



SCiENCE-GOSSIP. 



Decaying Pine Wood. — J. S Dales reports a peculiar 

 condition in a tree box. The decayed portion did .not 

 present the usual dull, dark, shrunken appearance 

 common to rotten wood. Above the line of moisture, it 

 was of brig-ht, buff color, glossy and velvety to the touch 

 but, upon slig-ht pressure it crumpled into powder leaving- 

 a small mass of coarse and hard wood-fibers. Micros- 

 copic examination revealed a dark intersticial fung-us and 

 a g"reat abundance of minute spore-like bodies which 

 resisted many of the usual staining" fluids. 



Nucleo-albumin.^ — For anaemia, Dr. E. D. Klots, 156 

 W. 48th street. New York, has g-iven haemaboloids, half 

 an ounce four times per day, with the result of increasing 

 the haemaglobin in two months from 41 to 69 per cent, the 

 red blood-copuscles in ratio of 198 to 364 with a corres- 

 ponding- return of health. In another case the haemaglo- 

 bin increased from 38 to 63 per cent and the red blood 

 copuscles in ratio of 164 to 341. Photomicrographs of he 

 blood before and after treatment are shown in the N. Y. 

 Med. Jour, of Nov. 12, 1898. 



Circulation of Blood. — The standard method of examin- 

 ing- the circulation is that of extending- on a frog-plate the 

 vi'eb between the toes of a f rog-'s foot. As, however, most 

 amateur microscopists find it difficult to obtain a frog- 

 when they require one, it might be of advantage to some 

 of them to know that the tadpoles of the common frog- 

 form excellent substitutes during their embryonic state, 

 and that in the thin expansion of the tail the circulation is 

 exhibited to perfection. These tadpoles are easily ob- 

 tained in almost any district, and may be kept in a small 

 aquarium or fish globe, where they will be handy when re- 

 quired. The method of examination is verysimple. The 

 tadpole is caught and transferred to an ordinary slide, and 

 a lump of loose wet cotton-wool is placed over it, holding it 

 down fast to the slide, and leaving the tail free for observa- 

 tion. If there is any tendency to curl the tail up on to the 



