ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
247 
organisms shown in the illustrations are specimens of Spirillum serpens , 
Proteus vulgaris , Chromatium Olceni, and the corkscrew bacillus, in all of 
which the plasma and the nucleus are well seen. 
For photographing the preparations, the large Zeiss pliotomicro- 
graphic apparatus, erythrosin plates, chrom-copper filter, an apochro- 
matic lens of 2 mm. focus, and projection ocular iv. were used. The 
sunlight was not thrown directly on the condenser, but through a lens 
of 1 m. focus. 
Protopopoff * describes a bacterium which, when treated with dilute 
fuchsin solution, became unequally stained, the pale rose-coloured body 
being traversed by bands of dark-red hue, which run in obliquely. 
Cultivated on different media, this bacterium was found to show dark 
bands or granules, and a similar formation of granules had been pre- 
viously observed by the author in Actinomyces. 
The author considers the phenomenon to be due to the irregular 
accumulation of the chromatin. Similar appearances described by 
other authors have received different explanations, Ernst regarding them 
as resulting from a kind of nuclear division, and A. Fischer explaining 
them as being due to the physical action of the environment. 
Morphology of the Bacterial Cell.t — In a lecture delivered at the 
opening of the course of experimental pathology at the Faculte de 
Medecine, Prof. J. Straus, after discussing the various morphological 
characters of bacteria, points out that the combined efforts of most 
histologists have tended to make the structure of the bacterial cell 
harmonize with that of ordinary cells. The author then discusses the 
views of Altmann, who stands opposed to the usual current opinion. 
To most the cell is the morphological unit, an element which can be no 
further subdivided, but a unit which may be, anatomically and physio- 
logically, simple and homogeneous or complex and intricate. To Altmann 
the cells are not elementary organisms, but colonies of organisms 
grouped according to certain rules of colonization, the morphological 
units being the elementary granules observed in the protoplasm and 
nucleus of the cell, which are compared to bacteria from their re- 
semblance in form, in liisto-chemical reactions, in movements, and in 
metabolism. 
The author regards this idea as being rather risky, and points out 
that it is very much the same as the doctrine of Bechamp, and also that 
quite similar views were enunciated by H. Martin. 
Nuclei and Division of Bacteria.:]: — Herr Nils Sjobring, in a com- 
mendably curt and concise communication, relates the results of experi- 
ments for ascertaining the structure of bacteria. The organisms dealt 
with were Bacillus anthracis, a hay bacillus, a vibrio, and several kinds of 
cocci. Most of the known fixation and staining methods were employed ; 
but the most satisfactory procedure was to fix with nitric acid, alone or 
with alcohol, without previous drying, staining with carbol-methylcn 
blue or carbol-magenta red, decolorizing with nitric acid, and examining 
in glycerin or water. 
* Annal. de l'lnst. Pasteur, 1891, p. 332. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Para- 
sitenk., x. (1891) pp. 702-3. 
t Journ. de Micrographie, xv. (1891) pp. 175-83, 238-47. 
j Centralbl. f. liakterioL u. Parasitenk, xi. (1892) pp. 65-8 (1 pi.). 
