precedence over Bacterium termo, the presence of which in any considerable numbers seems to be fatal to it.

This rapidity of multiplication is shown by the fact that the subcutaneous injection-in the rabbit-of a minute quantity of material containing it results within twenty-four to forty-eight hours in the development of an infinite number of micrococci in the body of the animal. In my culture-flasks also, a minute drop of the blood of an infected rabbit gives rise within a few hours to the development of such a number of micrococci that the fluid contents of the flask are invaded throughout, and the pabulum needed for a continued development is exhausted.

I suspect, then, that this is the simple explanation of the phenomenon in question-exceptional virulence. And I am inclined to think that the modus operandi of the action of pathogenic organisms is also to be explained by the possession of this capacity for rapid multiplication.

Nature has placed, or, in other words, evolution has developed, in the living tissues of animals, a resisting power against the encroachments of bacterial organisms invading and surrounding them, which is sufficient for ordinary emergencies. But when the vital resistance of the tissues is reduced, on the one hand, by wasting sickness, profuse discharges, etc., or, on the other, the vital activity of the invading parasitic organism is increased, the balance of power rests with the infinitesimal but potent micro

coccus. ·

The possibility is suggested that it is the office of the white blood corpuscles to pick up and destroy bacterial organisms which find their way into the blood. . .

Reference has already been made to the common bacterial organisms found in normal human fæces at the moment of their being discharged from the rectum. My photo-micrographs tell the story of the abundance and variety of these organisms, but the present state of knowledge does not admit of an attempt to determine their physiological rôle in the human economy. That their constant presence in the alimentary tract is a fact without import, it is difficult to believe in view of their demonstrated capacity for breaking up complex organic substances external to the body in the process of their growth and functional activity. . . .

By gently separating the lips of the male urethra and applying

a thin glass cover to the moist mucous membrane, good specimens are readily obtained of the organisms commonly found in this locality.

The researches of Lister and others and my own experiments, shortly to be detailed, indicate that the healthy human bladder is free from parasitic vegetable organisms, and it is probable that those organisms found at the extremity of the urethral canal, being aerobic, do not extend any considerable distance beyond the orifice. Lister has shown that urine drawn from the healthy bladder with proper precautions may be kept indefinitely; and Pasteur as long ago as 1862 showed that the alkaline fermentation of urine is due to the presence of an organism, Micrococcus ureæ, Cohn. The following experiments are reported here as relating to the rôle of this micrococcus, which, notwithstanding the researches of Pasteur, Lister and others, is not, perhaps, generally admitted by chemists and physiologists to be un fait établi.

Having repeatedly demonstrated the presence of micrococci at the mouth of the male urethra and knowing that Lister's experiments indicate that urine as contained in the healthy bladder is free from bacterial contamination, it occurred to me that in passing urine from a full bladder the first portion of the stream might wash away detached epithelial cells and bacterial organisms and that the last portion, being received in a sterilized flask, would give evidence of freedom from these organisms by remaining unchanged. Accordingly, I made the following experiment:

Baltimore, Md., June 25, 1881. Two bell-shaped glass cups were sterilized in the flame of a Bunsen burner and placed under clean bell-jars (Lister's apparatus). A small quantity of urine was then passed into No. 1 from the first portion of the flow and in No. 2 from the last, removing and replacing the bell-jars as expeditiously as possible.

Result. June 30. No. 1 contains a considerable deposit, is turbid, and is decidedly alkaline. No. 2 remains perfectly transparent, has no sedimentary deposit and is acid. No. 1 contains an abundance of micrococci, and No. 2 is free from organisms. A single drop taken up from the bottom of No. 1, by means of a pipette, was allowed to fall in No. 2. The following day No. 2 was turbid, had an alkaline reaction and contained an abundance of Micrococcus ureœ. This experiment cannot be expected to succeed in every instance as the complete washing away of organisms by

the first portion of the stream may not always occur, and it is possible that the previous passage of urine may have washed out the urethra and that consequently the first portion passed would be free from organisms while the last might be contaminated by the detachment of epithelium in which micrococci were embedded as seen in my photographs. Some such explanation is necessary to account for the result obtained in the following experiment.

Experiment No. 2. Baltimore, Md., Aug. 1, 1881. The above experiment was repeated. Urine was again passed into two sterilized glass cups, arranged as before and observing the same precautions.

Result. Aug. 11. No. 1 remains acid and transparent in the upper portion but the lower third is occupied by a loose finely granular deposit, such as is often seen in fresh urine immediately after cooling. No. 2 has an alkaline reaction, a film of urate of ammonia on the surface and an abundance of Micrococcus ureæ in the copious deposit at the bottom of the cup.

Experiment No. 3. Baltimore, Md., Aug. 1, 1881. Four sterilized cups were prepared as in the preceding experiments and into each was passed a small quantity of urine after first taking the precaution of disinfecting the extremity of the urethra. This was accomplished by the liberal use of a three per cent. solution of carbolic acid, which was applied by means of a pledget of asbestos held by slender forceps. The asbestos was first sterilized by heat and then being dipped in the disinfecting solution was repeatedly and thoroughly applied to the mucous membrane to the depth of half an inch or a little more.

Result. Five days after (Aug. 6) the urine in all of the ves sels remained transparent. At this date No. 3 was inoculated with organisms from the mouth of the urethra. This was done by twisting around in the orifice of the urethra a small ball of asbestos previously sterilized by heat, which was then dropped into the cup, containing urine, the bell-jar being removed for an instant only for this purpose. Five days later the contents of the four cups were carefully examined. Nos. 1, 2, and 4 remained transparent and acid. No. 3 was alkaline and contained an abundance of Micrococcus uree.

A STUDY of BLOOD DURING A PROLONGED FAST. By LESTER CURTIS, of Chicago, Ill.

On Saturday, the 28th of last May, Mr. John Griscom began a long fast in Chicago, which was to continue for forty-five days. Before the fast began I was invited by the managers to make any observations of Mr. Griscom, during the fast, that I wished. After convincing myself that the fast was to be conducted honestly and in a scientific spirit, I accepted the invitation, and chose the blood as a subject of study. I examined the blood with the microscope from day to day, measured the corpuscles and counted their number in a measured volume of blood.

The first examination was made shortly after noon, just after he ate his last meal. It indicated that the man was in an excellent condition of health; the vessels seemed full of blood which flowed freely whenever a puncture was made. The red corpuscles were abundant, their color was bright, they had a regular and smooth outline, seemed firm and solid, and were of the usual size. I made measurements of several and found the average diameter to be about 1 of an inch.

The next examination was made Tuesday the 31st, at the beginning of the fourth day; the principal change noticed at this time was that the corpuscles were paler than before and did not have the same firm appearance that they then had.

On the next day the change had progressed still further, and two sorts of corpuscles could be distinguished, one pale and large, the other deeper in color and contracted.

The first of these were exceedingly pale, some having so little color as to be almost invisible. They appeared soft and sticky, and spread out over the slide, a little like soft pitch. If they met any obstacle when floating along they would bend around it in somewhat the same way as any soft substance floating in water would bend around a snag. Many were seen adhering to the slide and were not easily detached by the other corpuscles coming in contact with them. They also differed somewhat from the usual shape. In place of the usual uniform concavity, many of them had a rounded rim with an abrupt descent to a flat floor. Altogether they had a limp and wilted look. Their size, also, was

slightly diminished. The average diameter of a number was about 4000 of an inch.

The other sort of red corpuscles were much deeper in color than those just described. They seemed to be deeper in color and less transparent than even the normal corpuscles. They were covered with nodules in the shape of blunted cones and did not show the usual concavity in the centre. They retained their shape with a great deal of firmness when meeting with an obstacle, more so than an ordinary healthy corpuscle. Altogether they appeared as though they had been acted upon by an astringent. They were also much smaller than the first variety; the average diameter of a number of them being 'oo of an inch.

The next evening, Thursday, the fifth day, the soft pale corpuscles had disappeared, leaving only the second variety. These also lost much of their nodular appearance and seemed to be spread out and to be of a larger size than before. The general appearance of the blood was more like that of healthy blood, although it had a wilted look, and the corpuscles in the rouleaux adhered together a little too closely; the line of division between them instead of being a clean deep furrow, was only an irregular trace. Many of the corpuscles stuck to the slide in an unusual manner. The corpuscles continued to be small. The average of ten corpuscles in one field, taken as they came, was 3500 of an inch. This was rather above the average of another field containing thirty corpuscles which I traced carefully, but did not measure, except by comparing with other fields. About this time also, irregularities began to appear in the shape of the corpuscles; many were elongated, some had an outline like a lemon, being pointed at each end, some were club-shaped. Many corpuscles stuck to the slide at one point and floating along in the current would draw out a tail. The corpuscles would sometimes become loosened from this attachment, but the tail would be only partially retracted and would remain a permanent appendage of the corpuscle. Many corpuscles were seen with this tail.

In a few days the large colorless soft corpuscles began to reappear and from this time on, continued to be present in greater or less numbers. Sometimes they almost disappeared; at other times they were found in abundance. The bodies with the thickened rim and the flat floored concavity were also found in increasing num