708 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
spread out on a slide, and having been mopped up with blotting-paper, 
are covered with turpentine balsam. The slide is then gradually and 
very carefully heated over a flame until the balsam has become so 
inspissated that it sets hard when cooled. At this stage the cover-glass 
is put on the hot balsam. The heating takes from 3-5 minutes. 
Staining Fibrin.* — M. Sabouraud communicates a method for stain- 
ing fibrin which is said to be superior to that of Weigert. Pieces of 
chancre fixed in Muller’s fluid are placed for 15-20 hours in the fol- 
lowing solution: — Tannin 1-200, alcohol 10 ccm. to 200 of the solu- 
tion ; they are then stained with anilin-violet (Ehrlich) and then 
coloured by the Gram- Weigert method, in which during decoloration 
clove oil is substituted for anilin oil. 
Some Facts about Lustgarten’s Method for Staining Syphilis 
Bacilli. f- — M. Sabouraud, after having frequently failed to find bacteria in 
syphilitic products by Lustgarten’s method, lighted on a case of ulcerating 
gumma, in the pus of which he succeeded in demonstrating by Lust- 
garten’s method some bacilli. These bacilli were not stained by Ehrlich’s 
method. The author therefore presumed that he had found the bacilli 
of syphilis. But a guinea-pig having been inoculated with this pus, 
died of tuberculosis. 
The author then raises the question whether Lustgarten, who did 
not make any inoculations on guinea-pigs, may not have been mistaken 
in the true character of the growths. Indeed, it was found that Lust- 
garten’s method was extremely useful for demonstrating tubercle bacilli, 
especially in the liver. 
The author gives a new method for preparing sulphurous acid 
solution. 
New Method for Finding Tubercle Bacilli in Sputum. J — Herr 
Dahmen has devised a modification of Biedert’s method, the principle of 
which consists in separating the solid from the liquid portion of the 
sputum by boiling with caustic soda. 
The author states that the same result may be arrived at by heating 
the sputum for 15 minutes in a vapour bath. The solid particles almost 
immediately fall to the bottom and, after the liquid portion has been 
poured off, are well mixed up in a mortar and are ready for examination. 
Malachite-green as an Extracting Pigment.§ — Malachite-green, 
says Dr. H. Kiihne, when dissolved in anilin oil has the power of extract- 
ing fuchsin, methylen-blue, and crystal violet from sections, and speci- 
mens of bacteria prepared in this way are excellent for demonstration 
purposes on account of their sharp differentiation. 
For staining tubercle bacilli the method is as follows : — The sections 
are stained in cold phenol fuchsin for 15 minutes; they are then washed 
in water and alcohol and afterwards transferred to a saturated solution 
* Annales lust. Pasteur, 1892, p. 184. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., 
xi. (1892) p. 807. 
t Annales Inst. Pasteur, 1892, p. 184. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., 
xi. (1892) p. 807. 
X Munchen. Med. Wochenscbr^, 1891, No. 38. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., xii. (1892) pp. 41-2. 
§ Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xi. (1892) pp. 756-8. 
