282 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [December, 



MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETIES. 



San Francisco, Cal., Wm. E. Loy, Sec'y. 



At a meeting of the Microscopical Society held Oct. 7, 1891, at the 

 rooms at 433 Montgomery street, Kaspar Pischl, M. D., read a short 

 paper and exhibited a slide of Gonococci from a case of Ophthalmia 

 neonatorum. Much of the paper was of a technical character, but the 

 doctor mentioned that of the totally blind in Europe statistics proved 

 that fully one-third was caused by Ophthahnia neonatoriim. The 

 remedy is so simple and so efficacious, when treated in its early stages, 

 that in most European countries laws have been passed making it com- 

 pulsory on nurses to report any inflammation of the eye in infants to 

 the designated authorities within six hours. He said a 2 per cent, so- 

 lution of nitrate of silver would cure 90 per cent, of the infants thus 

 afflicted. Thus far no concerted movement has been made in this di- 

 rection in any State except New York, where a law has been passed 

 similar in its provisions to laws in various European countries. Dr. 

 Pischl thought it would be a great boon to the people of California to 

 have a similar law enacted, and he hoped to see united action on the 

 part of the medical profession. 



F. O. Jacobs of Columbus, Ohio, was present as a visitor, and fav- 

 ored the Society with a description and drawing of a freezing micro- 

 tome which he had designed and constructed. In the different forms 

 of freezing microtome employed, great difficulty is experienced in keep- 

 ing the mass in a congealed state, unless one operates in an atmosphere at 

 a low temperature ; while the one designed by Mr. Jacobs works very 

 satisfactorily in the temperature of an ordinary room or laboratory. 



Dr. Mouser showed some agar he had prepared of such transparency 

 that cultures could be perfectly photographed in situ. The tube shown 

 had a fine colony of anthrax bacillus. 



Henry C. Hyde exhibited a new illuminator, Simons', which was 

 easily and quickly adjusted to the various requirements of microscopic 

 illumination. 



The meeting October 31, 1891, was an informal or conversational 

 one, but President Wickson formally called the meeting to order for a 

 few moments that an election of new members might be held. M. E. 

 Jaffa and Henry E. Sanderson, M. D., both residents of this city, were 

 elected regular members. 



After the transaction of the business as above stated, the meeting re- 

 solved itself into an exhibition, with brief verbal communications per- 

 taining to the objects exhibited. 



Dr. Douglass W. Montgomery recalled the case of Acromegalia^ 

 which resulted in the death of the Italian peanut vender at the Alms- 

 house about two months ago. He exhibited a series of slides, with dif- 

 ferent stains, showing corpora amylacea or amylaceous bodies found 

 in the prostate gland. The doctor briefly described the development 

 of the disease and illustrated the structure of the amylaceous bodies, 

 which in the slide exhibited were stained with hcematoxylin. His re- 

 marks called foi'th considerable discussion, and questions and answers 

 followed, showing that his hearers were deeply interested. 



Dr. C. E. Cooper exhibited a slide prepai"ed from the sputum of a 

 patient who had I'eceived twenty-five treatments of Koch's tubercu- 



