NEWS AND SUNDRIES. 
237 
and in some other points it lias yielded most important results 
from a surgical point of view. 
Borofuchsin as a Stain for Tubercle Bacilli. —Professor 
Lubimoff describes in the Meditsinskoe Obozrenie a new stain for 
tubercle bacilli, which he calls borofuchsin. It consists of: 
Fuchsin, 0.5 gramme; boric acid, 0.5 gramme; absolute alcohol, 
15 grammes; distilled water, 20 grammes. Prepared thus, it has 
a slightly acid reaction ; it is quite clear and not liable to spoil 
by being kept, and is consequently always ready for use. The 
sputum is dried on a cover glass, and stained by being heated in 
contact with the borofuchsin for one or two minutes. The stain 
is then washed out by treatment with dilute sulphuric acid. The 
specimen is then washed with alcohol, and subsequently immersed 
for half a minute in a saturated alcoholic solution of methylene 
blue. After being washed in distilled water and dried, the exam¬ 
ination of the specimen is made in oil of cedar or in a solution of 
Canada balsam. In exactly the same way sections of tuberculous 
organs may be stained after hardening in spirit, only in such cases 
the steps of the operation must be somewhat more prolonged. 
The main difference between this and other staining processes for 
Koch’s bacilli is that, when borofuchsin is used, the process of 
washing it out with sulphuric acid is an almost instantaneous one. 
All other bacilli are, as when other stains are used, rendered col¬ 
orless and invisible, the tubercle bacilli being alone seen.— Lancet. 
Dr. Frank S. Billings and His Work. —It is stated that 
Dr. Billings, the accomplished head of the patho-biological labor¬ 
atory of the State University of Nebraska, has found it necessary 
to relinquish his labors in that institution, by reason of the insuf¬ 
ficiency of the means at his disposal for profitably and properly 
carrying forward the enterprise. Not only has there been a lack 
of means to meet necessary expenses, but ceaseless interferences 
with his work are alleged, such as must always prove most irk. 
some and discouraging to a sensitive and zealous investigator. 
The practical study by clinical methods of the diseases of our 
live stock is an undertaking that will well reward any expendi¬ 
ture likely to be incurred in its prosecution, and that should com- 
