SEARCHING FOR TRICHINAE. 
511 
said that fallow deer have occasionally been killed by being 
permitted to browse on the same plant, which, though 
apparently wholesome enough when in a fresh growing con¬ 
dition, appears to acquire a deleterious character when it has 
ceased to grow and becomes shrivelled and dry. Our con¬ 
temporary has noted fourteen cases that have occurred this 
spring, and seems inclined to attribute the acquisition of a 
poisonous character to incipient fermentation. There may 
be something in this, perhaps, but it seems just possible that 
the noxious principle is contained in the juices of the living 
plant, and merely becomes concentrated by the drying of the 
branches clipped off. It seems certain that animals may eat 
with apparent impunity not only box and laurel, but the 
yew tree also when in a growing state, but it may reasonably 
be doubted whether they do not receive more or less injury 
from them, and until the matter has received a little more 
attention than it has done owners of farm stock would do 
well to look to the fences of their shrubberies and ivy growths. 
The question is raised as to whether clippings are as deadly 
at other seasons of the year as they are in spring. This is 
considered to be doubtful, but it is a fact that animals have 
been killed by prunings of the kind referred to at all seasons, 
and care should be taken at all times therefore, although it 
may be a fact that the poison may be more virulent at one 
time than another.— Globe. 
SEARCHING FOR TRICHINA. 
Mr. George W. Morehouse, of Wayland, N.Y., says * 
that it is undeniable that microscopists waste a good deal of 
valuable time by the use of higher powers than are necessary, 
and by imperfect preparation of objects for examination. In 
nothing in this more forcibly illustrated than in the examina¬ 
tion of pork for trichinae. For this purpose it is customary 
to use powers of 75 diameters and upwards (seldom as low as 
50), and the meat is not always made sufficiently transparent 
for ready detection of the parasites. A power of 25 diameters, 
obtained with a good 2-inch objective, and 2-inch ocular, is 
amply sufficient. With the 2-incn we have greater depth of 
focus, the object is still shown with great clearness, and most 
important of all, we are able to do as much searching in one 
hour as it would take about nine hours to accomplish with a 
f-inch objective. 
As to preparing pork for present, rapid, and accurate ob- 
* ‘ Am. Journ. Micr.,’ iv. (1879) 36, 
