MALARIA. 173 
the stain which we recommend for general use, and in 
cases in which the nature of the organism (if one be 
present) is entirely unknown. 
If bacteria are detected by any of these methods 
their nature must be recognised by a consideration of 
their morphological features and staining reactions. 
MALARIA. 
The blood in a suspected case of malaria may be 
examined fresh or in stained films. Of these methods 
the former is the better and should be used if possible; 
an examination of stained specimens should also be 
made and is convenient, as it can be performed away 
from the patient and at leisure. 
Fresh films are made by touching a drop of blood on 
the patient’s finger with the centre of a perfectly clean 
cover-glass so as to remove an extremely small quantity 
of blood. This cover-glass is then allowed to fall on to 
a clean slide so that the droplet of blood may be spread 
out by capillary attraction and by the weight of the 
cover-glass, just as is the case in the method of making 
blood films already described. But the slide is not 
separated from the cover-glass; they are examined just 
as they are, a ring of vaseline being painted round the 
edge of the cover-glass to prevent evaporation. 
The specimen is examined with a } in. objective, and 
a place found in which the corpuscles are spread in a 
single layer; this part is then searched thoroughly with 
a 4; in. oil immersion lens. The parasites are seen as 
pale irregularly-shaped bodies, with indistinct margins 
which occupy the interior of the red corpuscles, and 
