78 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [ April, 
convalescing from sickness recently, he had ordered a broiled chicken. While pre- 
paring it for cooking his wife noticed peculiar spots on the liver and spleen and showed 
them to him. As they were apparently tubercular, he placed them in preservative fluid 
until his recovery, when, upon chemical treatment and microscopical examination, the 
material was found to be crowded with true tubercular dacz//z. The liver and spleen were 
especially infected, but bacilli were also plentifully found in the mesenteric glands, the 
lungs and other parts. He had thereupon made inquiries among the cooks of several 
large hotels and boarding-houses, and was by them supplied with material for further 
investigation. In the short time that he had been studying the matter he had already 
found six chickens, all very badly infested with the bacillus in question, and he be- 
lieved that probably 5 per cent. of all the fowls offered for sale in this city were similarly 
affected. It was true that most of the organs thus affected were not used for food, yet, 
this was not always the case. Danger to the human race of infection from this source 
was greatly reduced, from the fact that the thermal death-point of the Baczllus tuber- 
culosts was about 150° Fahrenheit, so that in the process of cooking thoroughly they 
would be destroyed. A much higher temperature, however, is required to kill the spores 
of these bacilli, and, as there could scarcely be a doubt of the existence of spore-bear- 
ing bacilli in the chicken, it could not be said that danger from this source did not ex- 
ist. While, therefore, by no means wishing to assume the role of alarmist, the Speaker 
wished to commend the subject to microscopists and the medical fraternity, for its in- 
terest as well as its importance. Specimens of infected organs of chickens were shown, 
and mounted slides, showing the tuberculous matter and the dacz// themselves, all 
stained by chemical reagents, were shown under a number of microscopes. A set 
of slides illustrative of the subject was donated to the society by Doctor Stallard, and 
a vote of thanks was thereupon tendered him for his donation and his interesting ad- 
dress. 
Two interesting slides of native wire copper from Lake Superior were handed in by 
Dr. Selfridge. 
As aninstance of the brilliance with which many animal integuments are displayed 
by the use of polarized light, the secretary exhibited a carbolic-acid mount of the human 
flea, and also a slide of a rare marine crustacean from the Channel Islands. 
A. H.. BRECKENFELD, Rec. Secr. 
NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
Microscopy for Beginners, or Common Objects from the Ponds and Ditches. By A.C. 
Stokes, M. D. Harper Brothers, New York City. 1887. (pp. 308). 
Though it might at first thought seem that the literature of elementary microscopy 
is crowded, such is by no means the case with respect to good books. If the beginner 
with the microscope were to ask for a work which to take as a vade mecum to stand at 
his elbow and answer his question, ‘ what is this ?’ as he looks through a drop of water 
from his roof gutter, or the pool where he collected a bit of ‘scum,’ he will find 
that work nowhere but in the little volume which Dr. Stokes has just produced. After 
a brief chapter upon the ways of examining pond life, the microscope, both simple and 
compound, and how to use it, the author takes up consecutively Desmids, Diatoms, 
Fresh-water Algze, Rhizopods, Infusoria, Hydra, Aquatic Worms, Crustacea and Insect 
Larvze, Rotifers, Fresh-water Polyzoa, and thus runs through the groups which contain 
the animals likely to be met by the searcher. This plan is highly commendable. 
There is some interest for the amateur in merely looking through the microscope, but 
far more if he is guided by a competent teacher or hand-book. This work makes it 
possible for him to find out readily for himself the relationships of almost anything he 
is likely to meet in his collections, and gives him considerable information about it. 
This is done in a very clear manner by the help of artificial diagnostic keys based upon 
the most conspicuous character, irrespective of morphological significance, and by very 
frequent figures. There are in all 179 figures of objects, besides the six figures which 
relate to apparatus. The book contains also a good glossary anda very complete index. 
We have not meant to speak of Dr. Stokes’ book as if it were suited only to the needs 
of beginners. It does not claim to be a monograph of aquatic life, and yet we are 
assured that it will do good service upon the work-table of many who have become 
more than beginners or amateurs in the study. Keys to the genera of the various 
groups will be found a great convenience by very many who have formed the acquain- 
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