1884.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



89 



black as the background itself, except 

 when the tiny white spots of the are- 

 olae pick out the pattern of its mark- 

 ing, or the projecting rim of the valve 

 marks its circumfei"ence. So a Po- 

 dosira or Cyclotella will be seen, the 

 merest soap-bubble with its play of 

 colors and its manifest tenuity, speak- 

 ing plainly of the extreme delicac}^ of 

 the film of silex. 



We will pass over the irregular 

 disc forms for the present,, and next 

 consider some of the Naviculfe. 



^To be continued.^ 



Dr. Koch's Pavilion at Berlin. 



[The following article is copied 

 from the Journ. Am. Med. Assn^ 

 and is a translation from the Revue 

 Medicale de Lotivain. It is of es- 

 pecial interest at this time, when so 

 many persons are working in the 

 same field as Dr. Koch, whose name 

 will always be identified with this 

 department of research. — Ed.] 



' In 1876 the Imperial German Gov- 

 ernment established a central com- 

 mittee to supervise the sanitary con- 

 dition of the Empire, and to contrib- 

 ute directly, by especial researches, 

 to the progress of h3'giene. This 

 committee, called the Reichsgesund- 

 heitsamt, was composed of five per- 

 sons, who were to collect, arrange, 

 and exhibit all material pertaining to 

 the study and practice of hygiene, 

 and to give its aid to the Minister of 

 the Interior in the study of questions 

 relating to hygiene, and in the prepa- 

 ration of laws and administrative 

 measures relative to the same sub- 

 ject. In 1878 the committee was 

 enlarged, and the Government ap- 

 propriated generously the funds nec- 

 essary for thoroughly equipped labor- 

 atories for original researches intended 

 to solve certain important hygienic 

 problems. 



' The building itself is located in 

 the centre of the medical quarter of 

 Berlin. It consists of a very large 

 house with a cellar, ground floor, and 



two stories, with laboratories for 

 chemistry, hygiene, and experimental 

 pathology, numerous work-rooms, a 

 statistical bureau, library, lecture- 

 room, consultation room, dwelling- 

 rooms for the Director, and chambers 

 for the assistants, with, finally, motor 

 apparatus, rooms for disinfection, for 

 combustion, for incubation, dark 

 chambers, photographer's room, etc. 

 ' The personnel is made up of a 

 Director, Dr. Struck, and four ordi- 

 nary members, viz : Dr. Koch, Prof. 

 Roloft', of the Royal Prussian School 

 of Veterinary Medicine ; Profs. Sell 

 and Wolfflingel, of the University of 

 Berlin ; of nine assistant physicians, 

 and a sufficient number of employes 

 to perfect the service. Besides these 

 there are 25 extraordinary members 

 chosen from among the most emi- 

 nent hygienists in the principal cities 

 of Germany. The Reichsgesund- 

 heitsamt erected a pavilion in the 

 park of the Exposition of Hygiene, 

 which contained two laboratories. 

 I. A laboratory for the analysis of 

 alimentary substances. 2. A labor- 

 atory for researches into infectious 

 diseases and the modes of disinfec- 



' Dr. Koch commenced his work 

 on the microbia ■when he was a coun- 

 try physician, a Krelsphysicus^ in a 

 very small village of Silesia. It w^as 

 in the midst of his duties as a prac- 

 tising physician that he commenced 

 and carried on those admirable labors 

 which mark an epoch in our knowl- 

 edge of the infinitel}^ minute world. 

 Gifted with sagacity and an excep- 

 tional clearsightedness, joined with 

 dexterity and the spirit of order and 

 method, and with an indomitable 

 perseverance, he made his first essays 

 like those of a master. With a sober 

 manner and a style that is clear and 

 curt, the most of his works are spread 

 over but few pages, but every ques- 

 tion submitted to his researches comes 

 back perfectl}^ answered from his 

 hands. 



' To affirm that a given disease is 

 the product of a special germ, Dr. 



