APPENDIX BY THE EDITOR. 



THE MICROSCOPE AS A MEANS OF DIAGNOSIS. 



Value of the Microscope in the Diagnosis of Disease. — During the 

 past few years the Microscope, in the hands of the physician, has 

 become an indispensable auxiliary in the detection and diagnosis 

 of disease. The anatomist in his researches into the structure 

 and functions of various organs, and the physiologist in his at- 

 tempts to unveil the mysterious phenomena of life, alike find in 

 this instrument a valuable coadjutor. Indeed, the invention of 

 the microscope has added to the already extensive list of the 

 sciences another — Histology — full of importance and interest, 

 constituting as it necessarily does, the basis of pathology. The 

 results flowing from its application to medical inquiries are so 

 important, that it has, at length, been assigned a place in the 

 same category as the stethoscope, pleximeter, speculum, and 

 other well-tried instruments etnployed in physical exploration. 

 By its aid such an extensive acquaintance with the intimate 

 structure of the tissues of the animal economy, both in health 

 and disease, has been obtained, that the practitioner can now 

 pursue his difficult profession, with far more accurate and rational 

 views of the nature and pathology of the various affections which 

 he is called upon to treat, than were enjoyed by his predecessors. 

 Individual cases are constantly occurring where long-known and 

 well-attested methods of investigation have signally failed to 

 elicit the information necessary to a rational treatment. Upon 

 many such cases the microscope casts a flood of light. We have 

 but to. glance over the rapidly increasing literature of our profes- 

 sion, to discover many proofs of the obligations of practical and 

 scientific medicine to the invention and judicious application of 

 the microscope. By its aid the impositions so frequently prac- 

 tised upon the physician have been often detected. One of the 

 most common of these attempts at deception consists in mixing 

 various substances with urine, the patient pretending that he 

 voided them by the urethra. Some of these, such as starch, 

 flour, and sand, are readily detected by subjecting the fluid to 



