142 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
capsule. When set the surface is scratched with the bacillus and then 
incubated at 37°. In four hours the cultivation has developed, the agar 
round about it being decolorized. The whole plate has lost its colour 
in six to eight days, but the cultivation itself is quite red. 
Control experiments with numerous other micro-organisms showed 
that typhus bacillus and B. coli communis were the only two which 
decolorized the medium. It is said that the two may be distinguished 
by the fact that B. coli comm, does not exceed the inoculation track, 
while typhus bacillus forms a broader strip with irregular margins. 
New Criterion for distinguishing between Bacillus Cholerse Asia- 
tic® and the Finkler-Prior Bacillus.* — If these two bacilli, say Herren 
O. von Hovorka and F. Winkler, be cultivated on plover’s egg albumen 
they may easily be distinguished. The Finkler-Prior bacillus rapidly 
liquefies, and imparts a yellow colour to the medium, while Koch’s 
comma bacillus neither liquefies nor stains it. This difference is clearly 
distinguishable in the first six days of the cultivation. 
Reference Tables for Microscopical Work.j — Professor A. B. Aubert 
has compiled the following tables which have been in great part 
translated and adapted from Dr. Behrens' c Tabellen zum Gebrauch bei 
Mikroskopischen Arbeiten.’ They address themselves especially to 
workers in the various departments of microscopy where such aids to 
the memory may be helpful in everyday work. The methods given 
are such as have received the approval of many of the best workers at 
home and abroad. A glance at the tables will generally give all the 
information necessary to any one fairly familiar with micro-manipulation, 
and while they do not aim at replacing the larger and more complete 
works, it is hoped that they will prove useful on the work-table of 
microscopists generally. 
Preservative and Mounting Media : — Alcohol-glycerin. — Glycerin, 
1 part ; alcohol (96 per cent.), 1 part ; water, 1 part. Specially 
recommended for plants, entire or in parts. 
Canada balsam in alcohol, chloroform, benzol, turpentine, xylol. — 
The balsam is hardened by low heat until brittle when cold, broken up 
or pulverized, dissolved in the solvents, filtered through paper, and 
evaporated until of the thickness of syrup. 
Boroglyceride. — Dissolve as much boracic acid in warm glycerin as 
possible. The solution is thick when cold; use for mounting some 
animal or plant preparations in the same way as balsam. 
Canada balsam : — The thick balsam is heated, and the mounting done 
on the warm table ; the object must first be soaked in absolute alcohol, 
then in oil of cloves. 
Glycerin and carbolic acid : — Glycerin, 100 grm. ; absolute 
alcohol, 50 grm. ; water, 50 grm. ; carbolic acid, 3 grm. For plant 
sections, &c. 
Chloride of calcium concentrated, or 33, 25, 12 per cent. For 
vegetable preparations, &c. 
Dammar: — Dissolve gum dammar in equal parts of benzol and 
turpentine ; the solution is filtered and evaporated to syrupy thickness. 
* Mittheil. aus d. Embryol. Institute der K. K. Univ. Wien, 1890, pp. 10-14. 
t Micr. Bull, and Sci. News, vii. (1890) pp. 35-6. 
