1890.] MICKOSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 211 



whicli he said : This specimen under the microscope isacover-olass prep- 

 aration of the nasal secretion in a case of influenza, moinited January 12. 

 I wisli, in presentinLj this slide, to call the attention of members of the 

 Society to the work recently done by Dr. J. Wright, in the laboratory 

 of the College of Physicians and Siu'geons. under the direction of Dr. 

 Prudden, in the investigation of nasal bacteria in health. This observer 

 made a most careful series of experiments in examinations, cultivations, 

 and isolations of the different forms of micro-organisms found in the 

 nose in health. The article can be found in the Journal of the Amer- 

 ican Medical Association, September 21, 1S89. I will not quote the 

 entire article, but only the summary. 



The staphylococcus pyogenes in six cases, micrococcus Jiavus deci- 

 dens (3), pcniciUluni glaucjim (i), micrococcus cereus Jiavus (i) 

 micrococc7is tetragenus (i). I made, during the recent prevalence of 

 influenza, several cover-glass preparations of the nasal secretions, and 

 observed the following : 



I. Thei^e was a vast increase in the number and variety of micro-or- 

 ganisms over those in health. 



3. That this number bore a direct ratio to the severity of the symp- 

 toms. 



3. That the prevalence of streptococci over staphylococci was evi- 

 dent, and that a diplococcus ^ probably a pucumococcus of Frankel, was 

 very abundant. 



4. The presence of a bacillus, looking very much like and probably 

 identical with Koch's bacillus tuberculosis, although not l^ehaving the 

 same with decolorizing agents. 



The micrococcus tetragenus^ or at least a tetrad resembling it, was 

 very frequently found. 



I do not claim to be absolutely positive about the identity of any of 

 these micro-organisms, because no cultures were made, and none were 

 isolated; but one can be reasonably certain of well-known organisms. 



In the specimen under the microscope, which is under a one-twelfth 

 oil-immersion lens of Zeiss, you will see the enormous number of mi- 

 cro-organisms. You will see that a large number ot them are chain- 

 cocci, and you will see numbers of diplo-cocci. This specimen is really 

 of no special interest, only that it illustrates in a beautiful manner the 

 increase in the number of bacteria, and the method of staining has 

 brought them out fairly well. 



I believe, although the only accounts I have seen are in the daily 

 papers, that two observers in Vienna have claimed to have discovered 

 the specific organism of grip ; but this claim has been denied bv Ger- 

 man bacteriologists, who say the organism claimed as the cause of 

 ''grip" is identical with the pHeu?nococcus of Frankel. — Brooklyn 

 Medical Journal. 



MEDICAL MICROSCOPY. 



By F. BLANCHARD, M. D., 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



A New Discovery in Blood. — Edington, in a paper on "The 

 Morphology and'Development of the Blood " {Brit. ISIed. Jour.)., de- 

 scribes a new blood corpuscle, the albocyte., from which he claims the 



