1890.] MICKOSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 209 



If this redwood method be combined with Golgi's sublimate staining, 

 the sections, having been stained as above, are placed in a mixture of 

 30 ccm. absolute alcohol and 5 drops of i per cent, solution of chloride 

 of gold and potash, until the sublimate precipitate has become quite 

 black, and the red nerve-fibres have assumed a bluish tone. They are 

 then washed in 10 grams of distilled water, to which i drop of a 5 per 

 cent, solution of cyanide of potash has been added, then dehydrated in 

 absolute alcohol, cleared up in oil of lavender, and mounted in balsam. — 

 Berichte it. d. Verhandl. K. Sachs. Gesell. Wiss.^ Leipzig-^ 1890, 

 PP- 328-330 (i pl-)- /• ^' ^' S'^ 1890, pp. 538. 



To Rectify Turpentine for Microscopical Use. — In a quart 

 bottle agitate one pint of common turpentine with four fluid ounces of 

 98 per cent, alcohol. Decant the turpentine (which will form the lower 

 layer), after standing for two hours, and mix it with one pint of clear 

 water. Agitate, and let stand until the two fluids separate. Decant 

 the turpentine (which this time will form the upper layer), and finally, 

 mix it with an ounce of powdered starch, and filter through paper. A 

 pure, limpid turpentine is the result. — Charles C. Paris in the Mi- 

 croscope^ June, 1890. 



BACTERIOLOGY. 



Formation of Nuclei and Spores in Bacteria. — Dr. P. Ernst 

 has, by. means of three quite diflerent methods, demonstrated in a 

 number of bacteria a new element — small granules which are most fre- 

 quently seen when the bacteria are developing with difficulty or are 

 about to sporulate. There is no constancy in the number of these gran- 

 ules, for there may be one or more. They stain blue-black in warm 

 alkaline methylen-blue and cold Bismarck-brown solution. Delafield's 

 haematoxylin stains them black-violet, and Platner's nucleus-black black- 

 ish. 



The author believes he has proved that these granules develop into 

 spores, and therefore calls them sporogenus granules. As they did 

 not under some conditions become stained with Neisser's spore-stain, 

 they are to be considered as being actually different from spores, al- 

 though the predecessors of these. This view is further supported by 

 the fact that haematoxylin and Platner's nucleus-black stain the granules 

 but not the spores. In their earlier condition they are easily pepton- 

 ized (3 hours in solution of pepsin 0.5, PICl 0.2, HgOioo, but as 

 they become older the greater is their resistance to digestion ; and this 

 is complete when they have developed into spores. With methvlin- 

 blue and Bismarck-brown the sporogenous granules stain blue-black, the 

 spores blue. All boiling fluids, including pure water, cause their dis- 

 appearance. The granules are certainly not vacuoles, and do not con- 

 sist of fat (insoluble in boiling ether), or of starch (do not stain with 

 iodine). — Zeitschr. f. Hygiene v. (1888), p. 61 ; J. R. M. ^., 1890, 

 p. 79. 



Bacteria-destroying Power of the Blood. — In experimenting 

 on the property of blood-serum devoid of cells as to its power of de- 

 stroying micro-organisms, Dr. F. Nissen used the blood of dogs and 



