358 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
lias succeeded in demonstrating capsules not only in Anthrax , but in 
cadaver bacilli, by Johne’s method,* in samples taken direct from the 
animal body. In preparations from artificial cultures it was found tor 
be more difficult to stain the sheath, but by previous treatment with 
one per cent, caustic potash the capsule was made to swell, and a suc- 
cessful staining was obtained with gentian-violet and decolorising in 
acetic acid. 
Capsules were also demonstrated in artificial cultures of various 
species of Proteus and Staphylococci , Streptococcus pyogenes , Diplococcus 
lanceolatus, and Friedlaender’s pneumonia bacillus. The results with the 
diphtheria bacillus were unsatisfactory. The author agrees with Butschli 
and Bunge that the deeply stained part corresponds to the cell-nucleus, 
and the pale or unstained portion between the nucleus and capsule to 
the cell-body. 
(2) Preparing: Objects. 
Demonstration of the Pores of the Pulmonary Alveoli. | — Dr. D. 
Hansemann has demonstrated the existence of fine channels between the 
lung vesicles, so that it seems that adjacent pulmonary alveoli are really 
in free communication. The experiments were made on the lungs of 
rats, guinea-pigs, and rabbits. All the air was extracted from the lungs 
by killing the animals in an atmosphere of carbonic acid. In this way 
the lungs were rendered perfectly atelectatic, and were quite uninjured. 
They were then injected with glycerin stained with Berlin-blue at a very 
low pressure. By immersing the preparations in alcohol, the injec- 
tion mass shrank away from the walls of the alveoli, and sections showed 
stellate masses connected ^by fine filaments. Careful focusing showed 
the continuity of the filaments, and therefore the existence of stomata 
between adjacent alveoli. 
Demonstrating Structure and Composition of Cell-Kucleus.i — Prof. 
A. Zimmerman fixed the material, used by him in studies of the chemical 
composition of the vegetable cell-nucleus, in Reiser’s mixture of 10 grm. 
sublimate, 300 grm. water, and 3 grm. acetic acid. After twenty-four 
hours the material was washed in water, 50 per cent, alcohol, iodine- 
alcohol, alcohol and xylol, and afterwards imbedded in paraffin. The 
sections were stained with a mixture of 1 vol. saturated aqueous solution 
of fuchsin and 9 vols. of 0 • 1 per cent, aqueous solution of iodine-green. 
This staining fluid requires to be made afresh every time. The sections 
are immersed therein for eight to ten minutes, and then treated with a 
mixture of 100 ccm. absolute alcohol, 1 ccm. acetic acid, and 0*1 grm. 
iodine, cleared up in xylol, and mounted in balsam. Apart from differ- 
ences of detail, having a greater or less scientific value, the practical 
result of this method is that the nucleoli stain red and the nuclear network 
green. The author divides the structure of the nucleus into four parts, 
the network, the nucleoli, the nuclear membrane, and the nuclear juice. 
Tie is of opinion that his observations indicate that the nuclear network 
* See this Journal, 1895, p. 126. 
f Sitzungsber. d. Konig. Preussisch. Akad. d. Wissensch. zu Berlin, xliv. (1S95) 
p. 999-1001 (2 figs.). 
X Zeitschr. f. wiss. Mikr., xii. (1896) pp. 458-76 (1 pi.). 
