1891.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 235 



Medical Microscopy. 



By F. BLANCHARD, M. D., 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



The Disinfection of Excreta. ^ — ^The Jotir. Am. Med. Ass. for. 

 August 32, 1891, has a sound and practical article with the above title 

 from the pen of Geo. M. Sternberg, M. D. We quote simply results. 



The object of disinfection is the destruction of the germs of infectious 

 disease. In the case of an ordinaiy privy vault used by healthy persons 

 not disinfection but deodorization is needed. For this purpose solu- 

 tions of sulphate of iron and chloride of zinc are useful. But when 

 we wish quickly to destroy the germs of infectious disease, under the 

 conditions that ordinarily exist in the sick room, especially in the ex- 

 creta, aqueous solution of chloride of lime is still our best agent. 



Other useful agents mentioned are carbolic acid, creolin, quick-lime 

 and liot water. But chloride of lime holds the first place, owing to its 

 rapidity of action. For disinfection of vaults, where rapidity of action 

 is not so essential, quick-lime is given the first place. A short list of 

 the literature of the subject is appended. 



Antipyrine for Whooping- Cough. — Contrary to our usual cus- 

 tom, we refer to a matter which has no direct connection with micros- 

 copy. Antipyrine was first used in whooping-cough nearly three 

 years ago, but its value does not seem to be generally known, and we 

 "deem it of such importance that it ought to be everywhere known. 

 The dosage is a grain or a grain-and-a-half for a child a year old, from 

 two to four times a day. It promptly moderates the spasms, and in 

 many cases acts like a specific. 



Cultivation of the Bacillus of Leprosy. — Experimenters at the 

 Almora Leper Asylum and at the new laboratory at Simla have at 

 length succeeded in making cultures on bouillon, agar, and gelatin of 

 the bacillus of leprosy. The inoculations were made with serum from 

 blisters on patients suffering with leprosy. — Brit. Med. Jour, of Der- 

 matol.., July., i8gi. 



Distoma Pulmonalis. — The Sei-I-Kwai Medical Jourtial for 

 February 28, 1891, contains an abstract of a report made by Drs. 

 Yamakiwa and Inouye, of Tokyo, on the prevalence of this parasite in 

 some of the mountain villages of Japan. It is said that in villages 

 where the distoma is found it is so greatly dreaded that inhabitants 

 of other villages refuse to visit or trade, and even physicians are unwil- 

 ling to go to such villages from fear of infection. 



The eggs are said to be taken into the human body in drinking 

 water, and they afterwards appear in large numbei's in the sputa. We 

 judge that the chief symptom of the disease is htemoptysis, but the way 

 by which the parasite travels from the alimentary canal to the lungs is 

 not made clear by the report. 



A Pointer for Biological Chemists. — Post-diphtheritic parayl- 

 sis is caused by the action on the nervous system of a chemical by- 

 product of the bacillus diphtheria. Well, then, find us a chemical 

 which, by union with this alkaloidal poison, w^ill produce a non-poison- 

 ous substance, just as albumen unites with corrosive sublimate to form 

 the albuminate. 



Pathology of Paralysis Agitans. — Dr. von Sass, in the St. Peters- 



