Scientific American Supplement, No. 492, June 6, 1885 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 129 pages of information about Scientific American Supplement, No. 492, June 6, 1885.

Scientific American Supplement, No. 492, June 6, 1885 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 129 pages of information about Scientific American Supplement, No. 492, June 6, 1885.

The liver may be embedded in paraffin, and the section mounted in Farrant’s solution or glycerine.  The kidney may be treated in the same way.  The cornea of the eye can be readily cut by embedding in paraffin, and the section may be mounted in Farrant’s solution.  The crystalline lens and retina may be treated similarly.

The brain and spinal cord should be embedded in paraffin or a carrot, and the section mounted in Dammar.  Sections of the uterus and ovaries are best mounted in glycerine or Dammar.  Sections of lung maybe made by embedding in gum or by freezing, and mounted in Farrant’s solution.

Every slide should be of uniform size, and labeled.  The usual size is 3x1 inches, and should be of a good quality of glass, free from scratches or air holes.  They may be labeled either by writing with a diamond, or a small piece of paper affixed to one end, on which is written what is required.

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LIFE HISTORY OF A NEW SEPTIC ORGANISM.

At a recent meeting in London, of the Royal Miscroscopical Society, Dr. Dallinger gave his annual address to what was probably the largest gathering of Fellows ever assembled on a similar occasion.  After briefly referring to the increased interest lately manifested in the study of minute organisms, and recalling the characteristics of the doctrines of abiogenesis and biogenesis, he passed rapidly in review the results of the observations of Tyndall, Huxley, and Pasteur as bearing upon these questions, and called attention to the observations of Buchner as to the transformation of Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus subtilis, and vice versa, and referred with approval to Dr. Klein’s criticisms thereon.  Having spoken of the desirability of careful and continuous study of this class of organisms, and the importance of endeavoring to establish the relation of the pathogenic form to the whole group, he said he should be better able to deal with the subject by recording a few ascertained facts rather than by making a more extended review, and he therefore devoted the main part of his address to a description of “the life history of a septic organism hitherto unknown to science.”  In his observations of this form—­extending over four years—­he had the advantage of the highest quality of homogeneous lenses obtainable, ranging from one-tenth to one-fiftieth of an inch, his chief reliance being placed upon a very perfect one thirty-fifth of an inch; and from the continuous nature of the observations as well as the circumstances under which they were carried on, dry lenses had for the most part to be employed.  Having in his possession a maceration of cod-fish in a fluid obtained from boiled rabbits, he found at the bottom of it, when in an almost exhausted condition, a precipitate forming a slightly viscid mass, to which his attention was particularly directed.  It was seen to contain a vast number

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Scientific American Supplement, No. 492, June 6, 1885 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.