452 
EXTRACTS FROM FOREIGN JOURNALS. 
1 he following is the process of staining suspected sputum: 
Spread a thin layer of sputum on a glass cover, and allow it 
to dry. When quite dry, pass the cover two or three times 
through the flames of a Bunsen burner, and allow it to cool. 
Filter a few drops of solution a into a small watch-glass, and in 
this “fluid place the cover, with the charged surface downwards, 
taking care that no air bubbles are present. Let the cover re¬ 
main in the staining fluid fifteen or twenty minutes; then wash 
it in the acid solution, c , until all color has disappeared ; then re¬ 
move all the acid with distihed water, when a faint color again 
becomes visible; then, in the same manner, subject the cover to 
a few drops of solution J, filtered into a watch-glass, allowing it 
to remain several minutes, until it acquires a brown color; wash 
away all superfluous fluid in distilled water, and then place the 
cover in absolute alcohol; afterward dry it properly in the air, 
place a drop of Canada balsam solution on the cover, and 
mount. 
In a successfully stained preparation, the bacilli are 
i caddy seen with a good ^ or 1-5 inch objective, being well ex¬ 
hibited with a ^ or 1-10 power. 
In commenting on the diagnostic value of the presence or 
absence of these micro-organisms, Dr. Gibbs states that in 
cases of undoubted phthisis he really found them. In those 
cases presenting suspicious symptoms, some yielded the charac¬ 
teristic bacilli, while in others it was absent. In duplicate 
slides the putrefactive bacilli remained unstained by the magenta 
process. Abstract of an article in the Western Medical Reporter . 
Am. Monthly Microscopic Journal. 
^EFFECTS OF COLD UPON THE VITALITY OF TRICHINAE. 
By M. Paul Gibier. 
I have the honor in the name of Mr. Bouley and my own, to 
present the results of experiments we made together upon the 
vitality of trichinae found in American meats. 
The vitality of the parasites existing in hams was observed 
before freezing, by the following methods: 
1. By heat. In warming slowly the platinum of the micro- 
