Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-03-09
MICROSCOPIC WONDERS.
CHAT WITH PRESIDENT COX, OF
THE NEW YORK SOCIETY.

conversation at ms home IN the W cstInuIe-
land, spoke OF the work Of the New York
Microscopical society for 1857.
Mr.. Cox first mentioned the vast improve
ment In tho methods Of measuring micro
scopic objects This is done by rulings on
glass which IRE produced by complicated but
wonderfully delicate machines They are
constructed 80 rs 10 accurately divide an inch
or any other unit Of measurement into any
desired number of parts, as, for instance,
hoo Of an inch, l-lOOO Of AN inch, aud even
l-IOOO0 Of AN inch. Only three of these
machines, however, have produced any note
worthy work One is the invention of Pro-
fessor Rogers, of Harvard college, another
that Of Mr. Fasodt, Of Albany, and a third
that Of the professor of physics at Johns Hop
kins university. These three machines do
different kinds of work, though ruling parallel
lines by means of fine diamond point upon
glass or metal, to be- used as micrometers,
which are to objects under the microscope
similar TO tho scale Of inches portrayed at
the bottom of maps and architectural plans.
The finest rulings thus far produced by any
of the machines are at the rate of something
like 200 900 to the inch. Some idea OF the
closeneSs of the ruled lines can be obtained
from considering that 1000 such lines would
occupy only the space included in the thick
ness of a sheet of ordinary letter paper.
With this explanation 'of the method of
measuring objects under the microscope, Mr..
Cox started in to tell some of the things
members Of the society had done in the last
year toward dissectng and examining mi
crobes, which cause and spread diseases like
cholera, diphtheria, yellow fever or malaria.
In every day English he explained that the
microbe and the bacillus, the microbes twin
brother, are names for exceedingly minute
organisms which exist in infinite numbers
wherever they find their particular foods,
either in the liquids Of the human body in
both health and disease, in the tissues of ami
mails, in stagnant water and sewerage. In
dried and dormant state they even float in
the air, from which they descend into their
proper habitats. Thus they cause and spread
diseases like cholera, diphtheria, yellow
fever and malaria. Each disease has a mi
crobe or germ peculiar to it, and which may
be easily distinguished by the microscope
from nearly all other microbes Specimens
Of all these microbes have been collected by
a member of the society and sown upon a
gelatine surface, just a farmer sows oats
or wheat. They will grow up as sorts of
fungus, and even to the naked eye they will
then be as distinguishable, one sort from an
other, as oats are from wheat, or wheat from
rye, or rye from barley. Professor Charles
b Pelew, of Columbia, is the member of the
society who has thus sown little fields of
diphtheria, consumption, cholera, yellow
fever and other dangerous diseases. They
are under cultivation like grasses in
rocksry These little grass plots of the ter
rible diseases are glass covered, and whole
cemeteries are represented in them
Mr.. Cox referred to one difficulty the
microscopes had experienced i'll experiment.
ing with the fungi of these terrible diseases.
At u certain stage, or rather in the advanced
growth of the fungi, new microbes are shed,
which are infinitely smaller than the original
mcrobe. These microbes have a shell like a
hazel nut and about as hard, and even after
they arc boiled at great heat some micro
scopists differ as to whether the disease germ
has been destroyed Microbes are like potato
bugs. They encircle the globe. You can
scrape them off your tongue. Microbes de-
stroy the teeth They are with us and about
US morning, noon and night. They are even
in the medicine bottles i'll the druggists
shops. Mr. Cox then told of the discovery
of one OF his brother micrOscOpists who ex-
amined number of vials ON the shelf of an
up town druggist At the bottom of the
vials IA sediment was found which, under the
powerful gaze of the microscope, turned Out
to be microbes, and any prescription prepared
with the liquid in the Walls would harm in
stead of heal the patient. He referred to this
to show the care that all druggists should OK
ercise in keeping fresh medicines i'll their
walls.
Mr. Cox then told how the microscope had
shown what is known as the Brownian move
ment to he mysterious trembling, or half
rotary motion, which seems TO take place
necessarily in any sort of substance, if finely
enough divided and held in suspension in a
liquid of suitable specific gravity. "For
example" he said, IA little gamboge rubbed
up in water will exhibit an activity among
its microscopic particles which will give
them the appearance of being alive when
looked ut through the microscope No one
knows the cause OF this motion nor its limi-
tations as to time. | have "a specimen of this
sort which has been under observation for
thirteen and half years, and, far as
known, has never shown any sign OF Stacking
in all that time"
Speaking of the microscope on minerals,
Mr.. Cox said that many crystalline SUBJ
stances, particularly quartz, abound in small
cavities, or bubbles" left when crystalliza-
ton took place Sometimes these airs empty.
Sometimes they filled with gas. Often
they are filed with brine, in which n cube of
salt is held in suspension. If the cavity and
its contained salt crystal are exceedingly
small, Brownan movement occurs in the salt
particle and affords very interesting object
for the microscope. The quartz of ordinary
granite is generally rich in such moving lin
illusions" and thus thing which is ordinarily
regarded us actually inert is seen to be filled
with activity. This is one reason why gran
lite used in the construction of buildings goes |
to pieces in fire, for the heat expands the |
liquid or gas contained in the cavities and |
causes such pressure as breaks the stone |
asunder The presence of the brine in these |
cavities is regarded as evidence that the |
granite, which was formerly looked upon as
an igneous rock is really sedimentary.
One Of the Interesting sights is to see men,
bers of the society cut fly, a beetle, or house
roach into thousand pieces every one of
which is thinner than the finest hair. This Is
done by knife, or rather a sort of planning
machine, the edge of whose blade only |
be seen by microscope. The insect is
dropped into n spoonful of hot paraffine, |
which is allowed to cool. 1t is then put in
place on the microscope and planed or shaved |
by the machine until every thousandth part |
OF the insect is cut Off, somewhat after the
fashion of a Second avenue butcher operat-
ing on a bologna sausage. The wax contain
ing the specimens is then floated in alcohol,
which frees the specimen. 1t is then secured
by the application of drop of balsam and
laid on a tiny bit of glass, upon which are
focused the powerful lenses of the micro
scope Thus the thousandth part of fly is
as discernible to the microscopic as u frisky
calf to "a Sullivan county farmer.-New York
Sun.
Chinese Mining Camp.
The largest Chinese mining camp in the