586 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
horse-serum proved to be the best, the second place being taken by 
glycerin-agar ; for out of 200 cases examined, the former gave positive 
results in 137 instances, the latter in 122. The aspect of the growth in 
the five media inoculated from the same case is well shown in photo- 
graphs. From these it would seem that the glycerin-agar was the best 
medium, though the Loeffier horse-serum runs it close. 
The Loeffler’s serum consists of 3 parts serum and 1 part bouillon, 
with 1 per cent, pepton, 0 • 5 per cent, salt, and 1 per cent, grape-sugar. 
Egg-yolk Agar for Cultivating Gonococcus.* — Herr Steinschneider 
makes a nutrient medium for cultivating Gonococcus in the following 
way. An egg yolk is beaten up with thrice its bulk of sterile water. 
Twenty grm. of this are mixed with 10 grm. of 20 per cent, solution 
of biphosphate of soda and 90 grm. of 2 * 5-3 per cent, agar, and the 
mixture, having been poured into tubes, is allowed to set. On this the 
coccus can be cultivated directly from the purulent secretion. 
(2) Preparing: Objects. 
Method of Preparing Anatomical Specimens.! — Dr. N. Melnikoff- 
Easwedenkoff places the specimens directly they are removed from the 
body in a solution composed of 10 formol in 100 water for 24-18 hours. 
Then are added 5 to 10 parts (per 100 of fluid) of sulphuretted hydro- 
gen, or 0*5-1 part of peroxide of hydrogen. The preparation is after- 
wards immersed for 3 or 4 days in 60-80 per cent, of alcohol, and finally 
in a mixture of 20 parts glycerin, 15 acetate of potash, and 100 parts of 
water. To the first fixative fluid the author adds various substances, 
which exert some influence on the fixation of certain tissues, such as 
hydroxylamin, hydrochinon, pyrocatechin, and certain acetates, e.g. those 
of aluminium, copper, calcium, barium, and magnesium. 
Preparation and Use of Klein’s Fluid for Separating Minerals 
and Diatoms.J — Of the solutions of high specific gravity, Klein’s fluid 
is to be preferred, says Herr Marpmann, as its sp. gr. is 3’6, and it is 
not poisonous, while Thoulet’s fluid and Eossbach’s solution are extremely 
poisonous and of less specific gravity. Klein’s fluid consists of boro- 
tungstate of cadmium, and is prepared by dissolving 1 part of tungstate of 
soda in 5 parts of water, adding 1 • 5 parts of boracic acid, and boiling 
until crystals of borax precipitate. The lye is inspissated until glass 
fragments will lie on the surface, and then 0 * 3 parts of a solution of 
barium chloride added, after which it is acidified with hydrochloric acid. 
In this way boro-tungstate of barium is formed, the salt separating out in 
tetragonal crystals, which are purified by repeated re-crystallisation. 
By mixing boiling solutions of the barium salt and of cadmium sulphate, 
cadmium boro-tungstate is obtained. This is soluble in 0 • 1 per cent, of 
water, the fluid having a specific gravity of 3*28 at 15° C. By evapo- 
ration and re-crystallisation the specific gravity is raised to 3*6 at 
75°, and the salt can only be used when warm. The vessels suitable for 
separation of the various constituents are, a glass funnel, capable of 
holding 100 ccm., and having a stopcock at the lower end of the stem, 
* Berlin. Klin. Wochenschr., 1897, No. 18. See Centralbl. Bakt. u. Par., l tB Abt., 
xxii. (1897) pp. 104-5. 
f Comptes Rendus, exxiv. (1897) p. 238. See Zeitschr. f. angew. Mikr., iii. (1897) 
p. 115. % Zeitschr. f. angew. Mikr., iii. (1897) pp. 150-2. 
