^SS,K?rimT PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 275 
are nearly twenty pollen-grains for eacli ovule or seed. - As a single 
flower of a Maxilaria produced 1,756,000 seeds, it would produce, 
according to the above ratio, nearly 34,000,000 pollen-grains, each of 
which, no doubt, includes the elements for the reproduction of every 
single character in the mature plant ! " 
The Microzymm of the Blood. — MM. Bechamp and Estor have 
been experimenting on the coagulation of blood and studying the 
phenomena with the microscope, and they arrive at some very 
startling results. The Microzyma is according to them a minute 
vegetable form, so small that numbers of them are arranged together 
in one Bacterium. From the results of their observation of the blood, 
they conclude that the fibrine is nothing more than a sort of membrane 
(like the vinegar plant, in fact) formed of these microzymse of the 
blood accumulated together. — Vide Comptes Bendus, September 20. 
Microscopic Investigation of Milk and Blood of Animals with Foot 
and Mouth Disease. — In the ' Lancet ' of October 23rd, Professor Brown 
has given a very elaborate account of his inquiries on this subject. 
When the disease is fully developed, about the third day from the 
first appearance of vesicles, the milk invariably contains morbid pro- 
ducts of a very pronounced character, which were shown in one of 
the figures. This specimen was taken from a cow which had been suf- 
fering from the disease for ten days. The fluid, after standing for some 
time, separated into two parts — a curdy deposit and an amber-coloured 
whey. The same elements were found in both constituents — viz. 
large granular masses of a brownish-yellow colour, numerous pus-like 
bodies, bacteria, vibriones, moving spherical bodies, and a few milk- 
corpuscles. It is particularly worthy of remark that these morbid 
elements were found in specimens of milk which in their physical 
character presented no appreciable peculiarity. In some specimens 
which were viewed with the micrometer eye-piece the milk-corpuscles 
varied in size from g^oVo*^ Toio^o*^ mch in diameter, and the 
granular masses from g^^o^th to yJoQ^th of an inch. Milk from animals 
affected with cattle plague and also with pleuro-pneumonia was always 
found to contain an abundant quantity of the granular masses and 
pus-like bodies ; and in cases of cattle plague similar elements were 
distinguished in the curdy exudation which existed in the mucous 
membrane of the mouth, pharynx, trachea, and bronchial tubes. Ex- 
amples of milk taken from animals in different stages of foot and 
mouth disease afforded very interesting results. At the commencement 
the specific gravity fell to 1024-5, and continued to range between the 
two numbers until the animal was convalescent, when it rose to 1026-7, 
which standard was not exceeded for two months after recovery. The 
granular masses and pus-corpuscles decreased in number as the affec- 
tion subsided; but in all the specimens examined after the animals 
had recovered, they were found scattered here and there among the 
milk-corpuscles ; and even in specimens which vrere examined a month 
after recovery, they were detected. The granular masses were not 
found in milk from the same animals two months after recovery, 
but even in these specimens a few pus-like corpuscles were present. 
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