ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
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bouillon tubes, together with the hanging drops intended for micro- 
scopical examination, are to be left. The latter should be protected 
from the light and kept in a warm place, best in an incubator. If the 
cholera germs have been in the excreta, they may bo detected with a 
low power on the plates in 21—48 hours, and may then be inoculated in 
gelatin or pep ton bouillon. In these the cholera-red reaction with 
sulphuric acid may be obtained the next day. 
In default of the double capsule, a couple of dinner plates or saucers, 
the undermost being covered with blotting-paper, will serve the purpose 
of making a moist chamber. The incubator may be replaced by a pot 
or saucepan partly filled with water at 30°-27°. In this the test-tube, 
&c., may be incubated by fixing them in beakers laden with sand to keep 
them steady. The saucepan is covered with its lid, and a temperature 
approximate to that of the body is maintained by means of a night-light 
placed under the pot. 
Staining Flagella of the Tetanus Bacillus.* * * § — As a rule, says Dr. 
K. Schwarz, the tetanus bacillus has a flagellum at one of its rounded 
ends, and this is usually somewhat, occasionally considerably, larger 
than the bacillus itself. In sporogenous bacilli the flagella cannot be 
perceived. The flagella were best stained by Loeffler’s method on 
bacilli taken from bouillon cultivations developed under hydrogen, and 
48 hours old. Two drops of 1 per cent, soda solution were added to 
the mordant. Trenkmann’s method was not successful. 
Staining Flagella of Bacteria.j — Herr L. Luksch finds that by sub- 
stituting ferric acetate for the sulphate of iron in the mordant devised by 
Loeffler for staining bacterial flagella, the disagreeable deposit on the 
surface of the preparation is obviated. It is certainly true that this 
deposit renders the original procedure J less effective in practice than 
the promise held out, and it is noted by the author that Loeffler’s solu- 
tion should be made with the ferric, and not with the ferrous salt, but 
if the acetate gets rid of the surface deposit the distinction may be 
neglected. 
The author’s solution is made from freshly prepared cold saturated 
ferric acetate ; in other respects the formula is the same as Loeffler’s, 
except that to the 16 ccm. of the mordant, 5-10 drops of acetic acid are 
added. 
When the preparation has been slightly warmed for one minute it is 
washed in water and then in 20 per cent, acetic acid to give greater 
clearness. It is again washed in water several times, after which it is 
warm-stained with anilin-water-fuchsin or anilin-water-gentian-violet. 
Examining Sputum in Sections.§ — When examining sputum in 
cover-glass preparations many of the delicate and fragile cells, says 
Dr. Gabritschewsky, are destroyed, but this may be avoided by making 
sections of sputum which has been fixed and hardened. For this purpose 
alcohol, Flemming’s fluid, chromacetic acid, picric acid andisaturated sub- 
* Lo Sperimentale, 1891, p. 373. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xii. 
(1892) p. 391. f Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xii. (1892) p. 430. 
t See this Journal, 1890, p. 678. 
§ Deutsch. Med. Wochenschr,, 1891, No. 43. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., xii. (1892) p. 395. 
