Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/174

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��[Vol. T., No. I

��the Inst chapter, anJ will be TuiiDd of much aBsiBtnocc as an i d trod uct ion to the phj'eio- logical part of the volume.

In point of illustration, this staods in marked contrast with tlic more recent American text- books OQ rolaled subjects. If the figures do Dot all possess the highest ai-tistic merits, they are for ibe most part well executed. Their cbief value, however, lies in the fact that verv few of tUem have before appeared in American books. Sucbs, which has supplied most of our later text-books with their only meritori- ous histological illustrations, has been practi- cally discaitled. While most of the cuts are copies, many of them are taken from special memoirs not readily accessible to the majorit}' of teachers, and hence are as useful as if ori- ginal ; and those that have been reproduced from other sources have the merit of excel- lence of execution and ready comprehensi- bility.

If the closing part of the volume, dealing with vegetable phyaiologj, which, as we under- stand, is soon to appear, shnll maintain the character of that already published, the book caunot fail to meet the raquiremenls of the class of botiniists for whom the * Botanical text-book ' was planned.

��DISEASE-GERMS.

��Dr. Ki.bin's book is by fur the best we have seen ou the subject of the pathogenic and sep- tic bacteria. The author has had a thorough practical education in the matter, os he has worked at it ex|}erimontally during the last ten years for the medical department of the local government boarf of England. In this little volume are embodied his own researches, sup- plemented by those of others, ai-ranged to form an admirable guide, either for those who may wish to work in this field practically or for those who may wish to get merely a critical knowledge.

The first five chapters are devoted to the apparatus and methods employed in the culti- vation of bacteria outside of the body, and the precautions which are necessary in order to ATOid errar. Also the inoculation of animals, and the e^ire to be taken in this, are s^Kiken of here.

Ad exhaustive account of the morphological

��JlioTo-orfm

��■tndy of apHillc mii^rd-atganlim*. London, JVaimllJun. 1S84. »:

��By K. KuiiK. i

��nr/armatlan nfpaSmim bo ntlrro-oiviiiifmi. A blulo^cil Mody or th« gi'rni theory of illiiwe. Hy a. V. BLtcK, U.U,, D.D.e. rbnidctphli, Blal-UUm, IHM. I'JV

��characters of all the micro-organisms is no) attempted, but only of such as are related t disease in some way or other.

The classification of Cobn is followed; the micrococci are first taken up, then the bao-fl teria proper, after this the bacilli, then th»p vibrios and spirilli, and tinally the fungi, iii«< eluding nctinomycetes.

The descriptions of the appearance andf characteristics of the various species are greatly* aided by woodcuts giving the shape and par-fl ticular way of grouping together. The differ ence in outline between many of the bacteri is so slight that it cannot be attained ii most highly executed plates : therefore it i much better to try to represent their method^ of association, and the abundance in which they occur in the tissues, than to strive for great ac- curacy in the delineation of individuals. The last chapters of the book are well worth rend- ing, as they deal with some of the general quofrrj tions. That on the relations of septic t«M pathogenic organisms considers the possibility 4 of certain of the former assuming the proper- ' ties of the latter under extraordinary condi- tions. I'bree examples have been brought forward as proof of this ; first, the transfor- mation of the hay baciltus into the bacillus anthi-acis; second, the properties of exciting inQammation in the eye, which the bacillus sub- tilis of the air is said to assume when grown in a solution of jeijuirity-bean (Abnis precatorius) ; and, third, that the common aspei^illns, when cultivated under peculiar conditions, is reported to be fatal when inoculated into rabbits. The , facts bearing on these cases are carefully n viewed and tested by his own cxperimeDts,J and he comes to the coucluaion that in cacb>| case there is an error. In the first it arise from the accidental contamination of the nutr tive fluid ; in the second it is not the mi*^ crobe which is the active agent, but a peculiar^ chemical ferment (abrin) which is contained in the beans, and has also been obtained from other parts of the i)!ant ; and in the thii-d the fungus acta simply mechanically, and not as a toxic agent, in causing death. The Bep> J tic alkaloids (ptomaines) and the zymogeidorl ferments are noticed in the chapter on tbe^ vital phenomena of non- pathogenic oi^anismsi ' He lakes up the subject of vaccination and immunity, and concludes that the weight of evidence tends to show that the milder form of disease furnishes some substance, not as yet i demonstrated, in addition to those already in ^ the system, which acts in preventing the de- I veiopmentof the severer forms. In the last! chapter, attention- is directed to antiseptics i T

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