64 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY. [March, 



lution should be exposed to the air and light for three to four days, 

 when it should be filtered and mixed with 50 c.c, of glycerine and 50.5 

 c.c. of methyl alcohol. The solution should be allowed to stand until 

 it is of a dark color, when it is to be filtered and preserved in a well- 

 stoppered bottle. Before using the solution it should be diluted, as the 

 weak solutions give the best results. This logwood solution is to be 

 preferred to all others of the same dye, as by its use deposits upon the 

 sections do not occur. 



(2) Carbol-fuchsin. — One gram of fuchsin is dissolved in 10 c.c. of 

 absolute alcohol and 100 c.c. of a 5 per cent, solution of carbolic acid 

 is added. 



(j) Aniline Oil Solution of Auramin. — Auramin is very easily 

 dissolved in aniline oil, so that a very few drops of a concentrated so- 

 lution of it, if mixed in a suitable glass dish with 4 to 5 times its bulk 

 of pure aniline oil, suffices for the purposes of differentiation and double 

 staining. 



i^4) Victoria Blue Solution. — i gram of Victoria blue is dissolved 

 in 50 c.c. of 50 per cent, alcohol. 



(5) Solution of Iodine in Iodide of Potassium ( Gramas Solution). — 

 Four grams of iodide of potassium are dissolved in 100 c.c. of distilled 

 water and 3 grams of iodine added, which is readily dissolved in the 

 iodide of potassium solution. When used, enough of this solution is 

 added to a watch-glass of water to give it the color of Madeira. 



MEDICAL MICROSCOPY. 



By F. BLANCHARD, M. D., 



PEACHAM, VT. 



The Microscope in Diagnosis. — As widely used as the microscope 

 is in pathology and in urinary analysis, it is rarely employed as an aid 

 to diagnosis in sputa and the blood. This is an almost inexhaustible 

 field for research. In the sputa the detection of elastic tissue by the 

 microscope is certain proof of a breaking down of the lung, if such 

 tissue be found in the expectoration continually. Again, the presence 

 of tubercle bacilli is the first indication of bacillary phthisis, the elastic 

 tissue and other signs and symptoms invariably following these. 



By the rapid staining method, five minutes suffice to prepare for ex- 

 amination for tubercle bacilli. Dry lenses are made in this country of 

 sufficient strength and definition to make the detection of tubercle 

 bacilli easy. They have been seen'with a power of 350 diameters, but 

 with less than 500 the search is not satisfactory. 



The examination of blood is not such a formidable undertaking as 

 many think. In malaria it is of decisive importance, and although the 

 magnifying power required is very high, still the staining procedure 

 is simple, and the mere taking of a drop of blood from a patient's fin- 

 ger and spreading it on a cover-glass may be done in a few minutes. 



These facts should be brought more into actual practice, and the mi- 

 croscope be used for a short time daily by every physician in the detec- 

 tion of these diseases. 



