August 14, 1885.1 



SCIENCE. 



125 



oratory investigations, and may justly claim a voice in 

 this special department. It is to be regretted, that Dr. 

 Babes concedes the primary discovery of the specific 

 bacilli of different morbid processes to Babes alone. 

 ' L'un de nous ' creeps into the various cliapters with 

 a frequency not in harmony with accepted facts. So 

 far as is known to microscopists, Dr. Babes has made 

 no original discoveries ; and the work is valuable for 

 reference only (and in this particular its worth may 

 not be overestimated), and as afresh proof of Professor 

 Cornil's facility as a writer. Lustgarten has priority 

 in the discovery of the contagium vivum of syphilis, 

 as well as in the peculiar process of staining. I saw 

 Babes make several ineffectual attempts to carry out 

 Lustgarten' s directions, even while his book was 

 going through the press; so that his statements in 

 this connection, as well as those that occur in the 

 discussion of actinomycosis, are purely imaginative. 

 Actinomycoses have been successfully colored by only 

 one man in Berlin, but his name was not Babes. 

 The drawings in some cases are pretty good. The 

 tube-drawings are, however, wretched, and convey 

 an entirely erroneous impression of the growth of 

 bacilli. Cornil's work in the book is without spot or 

 blemish, and it is unfortunate that his duties as min- 

 ister of public instruction did not allow him to give 

 more attention to the details. Drs. Gr. Sims Wood- 

 head, and Arthur W. Hare, have brought out a book 

 jointly ('Pathological mycology'). Dr. Woodhead 

 came to Berlin for a few wrecks, worked in the labora- 

 tories, and then returned to Scotland, and wrote a 

 book. The nature and scientific value of this publi- 

 cation may be estimated from the length of time 

 w^hich was given to the study of micro-biology. The 

 description of methods is entirely out of date. The 

 illustrations are singularly inaccurate, notably No. 

 v., and all of the potato-drawings. No. 22 is not 

 used by Koch at all, and in No. 34 the tubes are not 

 held properly. No. 37, with description, is absolutely 

 wrong. It is evidently a contaminated, and not a 

 pure, culture. There is no detailed account of drop 

 culture or of plate culture, which is the very basis of 

 Koch's method of pure culture. The bacillus of blue 

 milk forms a brown tint, and not a ^ yreen^ tint, as 

 the authors claim. 



Neither of these works finds great favor among 

 scientific men in Germany, and neither conveys any 

 adequate impression of the exact processes of inquiry 

 necessary to a comprehensive, intelligent survey of 

 micro-biology. Even Koch himself stands but yet 

 upon the threshold, working his way into the clear 

 light of truth through much tribulation and scepti- 

 cism; and even he would never dare to pronounce 

 with such autocracy upon certain processes, as do 

 those whose enthusiasm leads them to snap judgments 

 after a few weeks of special study. 



An interesting matter lately happened in Professor 

 Johnne's laboratory at Dresden. A friend of mine, 

 working up the micro-organisms of different earths, 

 took a specimen from underneath the laboratory win- 

 dow. From this he cultivated some specimens of the 

 bacilli of anthrax. Inquiry showed that formerly this 

 place had been used as a burial spot for sheep dying 

 of anthrax, but that for ten years it has not been used 

 for such a purpose. Hoeatio K. Bigelow, M.D. 



Bastei, Sachs. Schweiz, July 13. 



[Our correspondent makes some strong statements 

 which need modification. The animus of Friedland- 

 er's criticism of Cornil and Babes' book { Fortschritte 

 der medecin, July i, 1885) may be easily understood, 

 and loses value by so much. So far as our perusal 

 of 'Les bacteries ' has informed us, the 'L'un de 

 nous,' spoken of in our letter, refers purely to con- 



firmatory work done by one or the other of the 

 authors, and is not a claim to originality. To our 

 thinking, Lustgarten, being the only one mentioned 

 at all in connection with syphilis in the classification 

 of the schizomycetes, receives all the credit the mo>t 

 grasping could desire: and the fact that Babes failed 

 once or twice to stain the bacilli, proves nothing in 

 regard to his success at other times (as any piactical 

 worker knows) ; nor, so far as we can see, has it any 

 bearing upon his assertions in regard to actinomy- 

 cosis. In regard to the staining of the fungus of the 

 latter, we would suggest that some others than the 

 one successful worker in Berlin should try washing 

 the sections for a short time in dilute hydiochloric 

 acid, and then stain according to Gram's method. 

 We fancy there will be no difficulty in findini^ the 

 fungus stained blue, as was demonstrated in Wash- 

 ington last April. Our review {Science, July 24) 

 gives our own opinion of the work. Of Sims and 

 Woodhead' s ' Pathological mycology,' we have 

 received only the first part as yet; and we have 

 therefore' not spoken of it in detail. Bad as our 

 correspondent seems to think it, it promises to be 

 at least the best work upon the subject that has yet 

 appeared in English. — Ed.] 



' Color associations.' 



Another curious phase of color association, besides 

 the interesting one mentioned by Dr. C. S. Minot, is 

 that in connection with names. 



I have heard three children of different tempera- 

 ments in the same family avow an association of col- 

 ors with names. Strangely enough, they agreed on 

 nearly every example; as, for instance, that Kate was 

 red; Mary, white; Alice, violet; Dick, deep Vandyke 

 brown; William, a watery blue, etc. This seems even 

 more arbitrary and unaccountable than color associa- 

 tions with months; as that might, to some extent, be 

 influenced by the prevailing tints of natural objects 

 at those particular seasons. Thus the tone of sun- 

 light during January, February, and March, deter- 

 mining the color associated, shining white yellow; 

 that of the April sky, when there is otherwise an 

 absence of striking color; the leading hue of May- 

 flowers ; the zenith of verdure in June, — all may assist 

 in forming the color associations. I may add, I know 

 the use of color-symbols for names to exist also in 

 adult minds in a less definite degree (the agreement 

 between different persons also not so unanimous), but 

 quite sufficiently to cause a confusion in recalling 

 names of the 'same color;' as, for example, Martha 

 and Mary Ann, both being classified as 'brownish 

 drab.' I think if this connection of ideas were traced 

 to the root, it would result in the conclusion that the 

 assortment is conducted on a very elementary basis ; 

 as in the case of the two last-mentioned names, usu- 

 ally belonging to persons engaged in ordinary work-a- 

 day pursuits, they are represented, or rather produce 

 an identical effect of commonplace neutrality upon 

 the mind, with the tint commonly adapted to service- 

 able uses. It is probable that thought is much more 

 frequently carried on by hieroglyphics of form and 

 color than by words. In fact, these afford too slow a 

 presentation of ideas, while some faintly defined sym- 

 bol conveys the effect of whole sentences at an instant. 

 As Ribot explains a certain illusion of memory : 

 'there is a ground of resemblance quickly perceived 

 between the two impressions, which leads us to iden- 

 tify them.' We confuse similar modifications of the 

 nerve elements as the pictures on two slides passing 

 simultaneously through the magic lantern are com- 

 bined. K, A. Chipmax, 



6 Place d'Armes Square, Montreal, Aug. 3. 



