1890.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 193 



square Inch, Lord's prayer engraved on glass ; photograph (Happy as 

 a King). 



By W. A. House, with Bausch & Lomb's Student : Type slide of 

 56 diatoms ; diatoms from Puget Sound ; diatoms, Arachnoidiscus 

 Ehr. in situ. 



By A. N. Lewis, with Wales' New Working : Living objects in 

 water. 



By W. R. Stone, with Bausch & Lomb's Livestigator : Living objects 

 in water. 



MEDICAL MICROSCOPY. 



By F. BLANCHARD, M. D., 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



It was Diphtheria that killed them, in Montmorency and Ot- 

 sego counties. — Dr. Henry B. Baker, of the Michigan State Board 

 of Health, savs : 



The outbreak of dangerous disease which has prevailed in Otsego and 

 Montmorency counties since last spring, and which local physicians 

 said was not diphtheria, and permitted two of the corpses to be sent to 

 Lapeer county, where a case of diphtheria occurred in a person w^ho 

 viewed the remains, has been investigated by the State Board of Health, 

 the investigation having been requested by a union meeting of the 

 boards of health of three townships in those counties. Prof. Vaughan, 

 of the University, a member of the State Board of Health, went and 

 made the investigation. He has also made bacteriological examination 

 of the membrane from the throats of two of the patients, and has found 

 and propagated the micro-organisms which are believed to cause diph- 

 theria. This species of micro-organism is known as Loffler's bacillus. 

 Prof. Vaughan says : " The bacilli have been compared with the Loffler 

 bacillus, which I had obtained in the laboratory of Dr. Koch, at Berlin, 

 and the identity of the two cannot be questioned." He reports the dis- 

 ease to be unmistakably diphtheria, as proved by symptoms, physical 

 signs, throat paralysis, etc. ; and the diagnosis is sustained by the bacte- 

 riological examination. It is now hoped and expected that the local 

 authorities will take thorough measures and stamp out the disease. 



Brain grafting. — Dr. W. G. Thompson, of New York, has been 

 experimenting in a new field, that of brain grafting. His observations 

 are recorded in the N. T. Med. Jour, for June 28, 1890. His most 

 striking and successful experiment consisted in grafting a portion of a 

 cat's brain, taken from the occipital region, into the corresponding part 

 of a. dog's brain. The dog was killed at the end of seven weeks, and 

 the transported portion of the cat's brain was found firmly united to the 

 dog's brain, the pia mater being intact. 



A Hint for Facilitating the Microscopical Examination of 

 Urine. — Dr. M. Wendringer advises that the urine be mixed with from 

 a fifth to a third of its bulk of a nearly saturated solution of borax and 

 boracic acid. 



To prepare the solution, mix twelve parts of powdered borax with 

 one hundred parts of hot water, and then add a similar amount of 

 boracic acid, stirring the mixture well. Filter while hot. The addi- 

 tion of this solution to urine keeps the urates in solution and prevents 



