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From the Annual Report of the Board of Regents of
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION - 1944
The Universal Microscope
It is only a reasonable supposition, but already, in one instance, a
very successful and highly commendable achievement on the part of Dr.
Royal Raymond Rife of San Diego, California, who, for many years, has
built and worked with light microscopes which far surpasses the
theoretical limitations of the ordinary variety of instrument, all the
Rife scopes possessing superior ability to attain high magnification
with accompanying high resolution.
The largest and most powerful of these, the Universal Microscope,
developed in 1933, consists of 5,682 parts and is so called because of
its adaptability in all fields of microscopical work, being fully
equipped with separate substage condenser units for transmitted and
monochromatic beam dark-field, polarized, and slit-ultra illumination,
including also a special device for crystallography. The entire
optical system of lenses and prisms as well as the illuminating units
are made of block-crystal quartz, quartz being especially transparent
to ultraviolet radiations.
This illuminating unit used for examining the filterable forms of
disease organisms contains 14 lenses and prisms, 3 of which are in the
high-intensity incandescent lamp, 4 in the Risley prism, and 7 in the
achromatic condenser which, incidentally, has a numerical aperture of
1.40. Between the source of light and the specimen are subtended two
circular, wedge-shaped, block-crystal quartz prisms for the purpose of
polarizing the light passing through the specimen, polarization being
the practical application of the theory that light waves vibrate in
all planes perpendicular to the direction in which they are
propagated.
Therefore, when light comes into contact with a polarizing prism, it
is divided or split into two beams, one of which is refracted to such
an extent that it is reflected to the side of the prism without, of
course, passing through the prism while the second ray, bent
considerably less, is thus enabled to pass through the prism to
illuminate the specimen.
When the quartz prisms on the universal microscope, which may be
rotated with vernier control through 360 degrees, are rotated in
opposite directions, they serve to bend the transmitted beams of light
at variable angles of incidence while, at the same time, a spectrum is
projected up into the axis of the microscope, or rather a small
portion of the spectrum to the other, going all the way from the
infrared to the ultraviolet.
NOW, WHEN THAT PORTION OF THE SPECTRUM IS REACHED IN WHICH BOTH THE
ORGANISM AND THE COLOR BAND VIBRATE IN EXACT ACCORD, ONE WITH THE
OTHER, A DEFINITE CHARACTERISTIC SPECTRUM IS EMITTED BY THE ORGANISM.
In the case of the filter-passing form of the BACILLUS TYPHOSUS, for
instance, A BLUE SPECTRUM IS EMITTED AND THE PLANE OF POLARIZATION
DEVIATED PLUS (+) 4.8 DEGREES.
Page 1
The predominating chemical constituents of the organism are next
ascertained after which the quartz prisms are adjusted or set, by
means of vernier control, to minus (-) 4.8 degrees (again in the case
of the filter-passing form of the BACILLUS TYPHOSUS) so that the
opposite angle of refraction may be obtained.
A MONOCHROMATIC BEAM OF LIGHT, CORRESPONDING **EXACTLY** TO THE
FREQUENCY OF THE ORGANISM (for Dr. Rife has found that EACH DISEASE
ORGANISM RESPONDS TO AND HAS A DEFINITE AND DISTINCT WAVE LENGTH, a
fact confirmed by British medical research workers) IS THEN SENT UP
THROUGH THE SPECIMEN AND THE DIRECT TRANSMITTED LIGHT, THUS ENABLING
THE OBSERVER TO VIEW THE ORGANISM STAINED IN ITS TRUE CHEMICAL COLOR
and revealing ITS OWN INDIVIDUAL STRUCTURE IN A FIELD WHICH IS
BRILLIANT WITH LIGHT.
The objectives used on the universal microscope are a 1.12 dry lens, a
1.16 water immersion, a 1.18 oil immersion, and a 1.25 oil immersion.
The rays of light refracted by the specimen enter the objective and
are then carried up the tube IN PARALLEL RAYS through 21 light bends
to the ocular, A TOLERANCE OF LESS THAN ONE WAVE LENGTH OF VISIBLE
LIGHT ONLY BEING PERMITTED IN THE CORE BEAM, OR CHIEF RAY, OF
ILLUMINATION.
Now, instead of the light rays starting up the tube in a parallel
fashion, TENDING TO CONVERGE AS THEY RISE HIGHER AND FINALLY CROSSING
EACH OTHER, arriving at the ocular SEPARATED BY CONSIDERABLE DISTANCE
as would be the case with an ordinary microscope, IN THE UNIVERSAL
TUBE THE RAYS ALSO START THEIR RISE PARALLEL TO EACH OTHER BUT, JUST
AS THEY ARE ABOUT TO PULL THEM OUT PARALLEL AGAIN, ANOTHER PRISM BEING
INSERTED EACH TIME THE RAYS ARE ABOUT READY TO CROSS.
These prisms, inserted in the tube, which are adjusted and held in
alignment by micrometer screws of 100 threads to the inch in special
tracks made of magnelium (magnelium having the closest coefficient of
expansion of any metal to quartz), are separated by a distance OF ONLY
30 MILLIMETERS.
Thus, THE GREATEST DISTANCE THAT THE IMAGE in the universal microscope
IS PROJECTED THROUGH ANY ONE MEDIA, EITHER QUARTZ OR AIR, IS 30
MILLIMETERS INSTEAD OF THE 160, 180, OR 190 MILLIMETERS as in the
empty or air-filled tubes of an ordinary microscope, the total
distance which the light rays travel ZIGZAG FASHION through the
universal tube being 449 MILLIMETERS, although the physical length of
the tube itself is 229 millimeters.
It will be recalled that if one pierces a black strip of paper or
cardboard with the point of a needle and then brings the card up close
to the eye so that the hole is in the optic axis, a small brilliantly
lighted object will appear LARGER AND CLEARER, REVEALING MORE FINE
DETAIL, than if it were viewed from the same distance without the
assistance of the card.
This is explained by the fact that the beam of light passing through
the card is very narrow, the rays entering the eye, therefore, being
practically parallel, whereas without the card the beam of light is
much wider and the DIFFUSION CIRCLES MUCH LARGER. It is this
principle of parallel rays in the universal microscope and the
Page 2
resultant shortening of projection distance between any two blocks or
prisms plus the fact that objectives can thus be substituted for
oculars, these "oculars" being THREE MATCHED PAIRS OF 10-MILLIMETER,
7-MILLIMETER, AND 4-MILLIMETER OBJECTIVES IN SHORT MOUNTS, which would
make possible not only the unusually high magnification and resolution
but which SERVE TO ELIMINATE ALL DISTORTION AS WELL AS ALL CHROMATIC
AND SPHERICAL ABERRATION.
Quartz slides with especially thin quartz cover glasses are used
when a tissue section or culture slant is examined, the tissue section
itself also being very thin. An additional observational tube and
ocular which yield a magnification of 1,800 diameters are provided so
that that portion of the specimen which it is desired should be
examined may be located and so that the observer can adjust himself
more readily when viewing a section at a high magnification.
The universal stage is a double rotating stage graduated through
360 degrees in quarter-minute are divisions, the upper segment
carrying the mechanical stage having a movement of 40 degrees, plus or
minus. Heavily constructed joints and screw adjustments maintain
rigidity of the microscope which weighs 200 pounds and stands 24
inches high, the bases of the scope being nickel cast-steel plates,
accurately surfaced, and equipped with three leveling screws and two
spirit levels set at angles of 90 degrees. The coarse adjustment, a
block thread screw with 40 threads to the inch, slides in a 1 1/2
dovetail which gibes directly onto the pillar post. The weight of the
quadruple nosepiece and the objective system is taken care of by the
intermediate adjustment at the top of the body tube. The stage, in
conjunction with a hydraulic life, acts as a lever in operating the
fine adjustment. A 6-gauge screw having 100 threads to the inch is
worked through a gland into a hollow, glycerine-filled post, the
glycerine being displaced and replaced at will as the screw is turned
clockwise or anticlockwise, allowing a 5-to -1 ratio on the lead
screw. This, accordingly, assures complete absence of drag and
inertia. The fine adjustment being 700 times more sensitive then that
of ordinary microscopes, the length of time required to focus the
universal ranges up to 1 1/2 hours which, while on first
consideration, may seem a disadvantage, is after all but a slight
inconvenience when compared with the many years of research and the
hundreds of thousands of dollars spent and being spent in an effort to
isolate and to look upon disease-causing organisms in their true form.
Working together back in 1931 and using one of the smaller Rife
microscope having a magnification and resolution of 17,000 diameters,
Dr. Rife and Dr. Arthur Isaac Kendall, of the department of
bacteriology of Northwestern University Medical School, were able to
observe and demonstrate the presence of the filter-passing forms of
BACILLUS TYPHOSUS. An agar slant culture of the Rawlings strain of
BACILLUS TYPHOSUS was first prepared by Dr. Kendall and inoculated
into 6 cc. of "Kendall" K Medium, a medium rich in protein but poor in
peptone and consisting of 100 mg. of dries hog intestine and 6 cc. of
tyrode solution (containing neither glucose nor glycerine) which
mixture is shaken well so as to moisten the dried intestine powder and
then sterilized in the autoclave, 15 pounds for 15 minutes,
alterations of the medium being frequently necessary depending upon
the requirements for different organisms. Now, after a period of 18
hours in this K Medium, the culture was passed through a Berkefeld "N"
filter, a drop of the filtrate being added to another 6 cc. of K
Page 3
Medium and incubated ar 37 degrees C. Forty-eight hours later this
same process was repeated, the "N" filter again being used, after
which it was noted that the culture no longer responded to peptone
medium, growing now only in the protein medium. When again, within 24
hours, the culture was passed through a filter-the finest Berkefeld
"W" filter, a drop of the filtrate was once more added to 6 cc. of K
Medium and incubated at 37 degrees c., a period of 3 days elapsing
before a new culture was transferred to K Medium and yet another 3
days before a new culture was prepared. Then, viewed under an ordinary
microscope, these cultures were observed to be turbid and to reveal no
bacilli whatsoever. When viewed by means of dark-field illumination
and oil-immersion lens, however, the presence of small, actively
motile granules was established, although nothing at all of their
individual structure could be ascertained. Another period of 4 days
was allowed to elapse before these cultures were transferred to K
Medium and incubated at 37 degrees C. for 24 hours when they were then
examined under the Rife microscope where, as was mentioned earlier,
the filterable typhoid bacilli, emitting a blue spectrum, caused the
plane of polarization to be deviated plus 4.8 degrees. Then when the
opposite angle of refraction was obtained by means of adjusting the
polarizing prisms to minus 4.8 degrees and the cultures illuminated by
a monochromatic beam coordinated in frequency with the chemical
constituents of the typhoid bacillus, small oval actively motile,
bright turquoise-blue bodies were observed at a magnification of 5,000
diameters, in high contrast to the colorless and motionless debris of
the medium. These observations were repeated eight times, the complete
absence of these bodies in uninoculated control K Media also being
noted.
To further confirm their findings, Drs. Rife and Kendall nest
examined 18-hour-old cultures which had been inoculated into K Medium
and incubated at 37 degrees C., since it is just at this stage of
growth in this medium and at this temperature that the cultures become
filterable. And, just as had been anticipated, ordinary dark-field
examination revealed unchanged, long, actively motile bacilli; bacilli
having granules within their substance; and free-swimming, actively
motile granules; while under the Rife microscope were demonstrated the
same long, unchanged, almost colorless bacilli; bacilli, practically
colorless, inside and at one end of which was a turquoise-blue granule
resembling the filterable forms of the typhoid bacillus; and free-
swimming, small, oval, actively motile, turquoise-blue granules. By
transplanting the cultures of the filter-passing organisms or virus
into a broth, they were seen to change over again into their original
rodlike forms.
At the same time that these findings of Drs. Rife and Kendall
were confirmed by Dr. Edward C. Rosenow, of the Mayo Foundation, the
magnification with accompanying resolution of 8,000 diameters of the
Rife microscope, operated by Dr. Rife, was checked against a dark-
field oil-immersion scope operated by Dr. Kendall and an ordinary 2-
mm. oil-immersion objective, x 10 ocular, Zeiss scope operated by Dr.
Rosenow at a magnification of 900 diameters. Examinations of gram and
safranin-stained films of culture of Bacillus typhosus, gram and
safranin-stained films of blood and of the sediment of the spinal
fluid from a case of acute poliomyelitis were made with the result
that bacilli, streptococci, erythrocytes, polymorphonuclear
leukocytes, and lymphocytes measuring nine times the diameter of the
same specimens observed under the Zeiss scope at a magnification and
Page 4
resolution of 900 diameters, were revealed with unusual clarity. Seem
under the dark-field microscope were moving bodies presumed to be the
filterable turquois-blue bodies of the typhoid bacillus which, as Dr.
Rosenow has declared in his report (Observations on filter-passing
forms of Eberthella-typhi-Bacillus typhosus - and of the streptococcus
from poliomyelitis, Proc. Staff Meeting Mayo Clinic, July 13, 1932),
were so "unmistakably demonstrated" with Rife microscope, while under
the Zeiss scope stained and hanging-drop preparations of clouded
filtrate culture were found to be uniformly negative. With the Rife
microscope also were demonstrated brownish-gray cocci and diplococci
in hanging-drop preparations of the filtrates of streptococcus from
poliomyelitis. These cocci and diplococci, similar in size and shape
to those seen in the culture although of more uniform intensity, and
characteristic of the medium in which they had been cultivated, were
surrounded by a clear halo about twice the width of that at the
margins of the debris and of the Bacillus typhosus. Stained films of
filtrates and filtrate sediments examined under the Zeiss microscope,
and hanging-drop, dark-field preparations revealed no organisms,
however. Brownish-gray cocci and diplococci of the exact same size and
density as those observed in the filtrates of the streptococcus
cultures were also revealed in hanging-drop preparations of the virus
of poliomyelitis under the Rife microscope, while no organisms at all
could be seen in either the stained films of filtrates and filtrate
sediments examined with the Zeiss scope or in hanging-drop
preparations examined by means of the dark-field. Again using the Rife
microscope at a magnification of 8,000 diameters, numerous nonmotile
cocci and diplococci of a bright-to-pale pink in color were seen in
hanging-drop preparations of filtrates of Herpes encephalitic virus.
Although these were observed to be comparatively smaller then the
cocci and diplococci of the streptococcus and poliomyelitis viruses,
they were shown to be of fairly even density, size and form and
surrounded by a halo. Again, both the dark-field and Zeiss scopes
failed to reveal any organisms, and none of the three microscopes
disclosed the presence of such diplococci in hanging-drop preparation
of the filtrate of a normal rabbit brain. Dr. Rosenow has since
revealed these organisms with the ordinary microscope at a
magnification of 1,000 diameters by means of his special staining
method and with the electron microscope at a magnification of 12,000
diameters. Dr. Rosenow has expressed the opinion that the inability
to see these and other similarly revealed organisms is due, not
necessarily to the minuteness of the organisms, but rather to the fact
that they are of a nonstaining, hyaline structure. Results with the
Rife microscopes, he thinks, are due to the "ingenious methods
employed rather than to excessively high magnification." He has
declared also, in the report mentioned previously, that "Examination
under the Rife microscope of specimens containing objects visible with
the ordinary microscope, leaves no doubt of the accurate visualization
of objects or particulate matter by direct observation at the
extremely high magnification obtained with this instrument."
Exceedingly high powers of magnification with accompanying high
powers of resolution may be realized with all of the Rife microscopes,
one of which, having magnification and resolution up to 18,000
diameters, is now being used at the British School of Tropical
Medicine in England. In a recent demonstration of another of the
smaller Rife scopes (May 16,1942) before a group of doctors including
Dr. J.H.Renner, of Santa Barbara, Calif.; Dr. Roger A. Schmidt, of San
Francisco, Calif.; Dr. Lois Bronson Slade, of Alameda, Calif.;
Dr.Lucile B. Larkin, of Bellingham, Wash.; Dr. E. F. Larkin, of
Page 5
Bellingham, Wash.; and Dr. W. J. Gier, of San Diego, Calif., a Zeiss
ruled grading was examined, first under an ordinary commercial
microscope equipped with a 1.8 high dry lens and X 10 ocular, and then
under the Rife microscope. Whereas 50 lines were revealed with the
commercial instrument and considerable aberration, both chromatic and
spherical noted, only 5 lines were seen with the Rife scope, these 5
lines being so highly magnified that they occupied the entire field,
without any aberration whatsoever being apparent. Dr. Renner, in a
discussion of his observations, stated that "The entire field to its
very edges and across the center had a uniform clearness that was not
true on the conventional instrument." Following the examination of the
grading, an ordinary unstained blood film was observed under the same
two microscopes. In this instance, 100 cells were seen to spread
throughout the field of the commercial instrument while but 10 cells
filled the field of the Rife scope.
The universal microscope, of course, is the most powerful Rife
scope, possessing a resolution of 31,000 diameters and magnification
of 60,000 diameters. With this it is possible to view the interior of
the `pin-point' cells, those cells situated between the normal tissue
cells and just visible under the ordinary microscope, and to observe
the smaller cells which compose th interior of these pin-point cells.
When one of these smaller cells in magnified, still smaller cells are
seen within its structure. And when one of the still smaller cells, in
its turn, is magnified, it, too, is seen to be composed of smaller
cells. Each of the 16 times this process of magnification and
resolution can be repeated, it is demonstrated that there are smaller
cells within the smaller cells, a fact which amply testifies as to th
magnification and resolving power obtainable with the universal
microscope.
More then 20,000 laboratory cultures of carcinoma were grown and
studied over a period of 7 years by Dr. Rife and his assistants in
what, at the time, appeared to be a fruitless effort to isolate the
filter-passing form, or virus, which Dr. Rife believed to be present
in this condition. Then, in 1932, the reactions in growth of
bacterial cultures to light from the rare gasses was observed,
indicating a new approach to the problem. Accordingly, blocks of
tissue one-half centimeter square, taken from an unulcerated breast
carcinoma, were placed in a circular glass loop filled with argon gas
to a pressure of 14 millimeters, and a current of 5,000 volts applied
for 24 hours, after which the tubes were placed in a 2-inch water
vacuum and incubated at 37 degrees C. for 24 hours. Using a specially
designed 1.12 dry lens, equal in amplitude of magnification to the 2-
mm. apochromatic oil-immersion lens, the cultures wee then examined
under the universal microscope, at a magnification of 10,000
diameters, where very much animated, purplish-red, filterable forms,
measuring less then one-twentieth of a micron in dimension, were
observed. Carried through 14 transplants from K Medium to K Medium,
this B. X. virus remained constant; inoculated into 426 Albino rats,
tumors `with all the true pathology of neoplastic tissue' were
developed. Experiments conducted in the Rife Laboratories have
established the fact that these characteristic diplococci are found in
the blood monocytes in 92 percent of all cases of neoplastic diseases.
It has also been demonstrated that the virus of cancer, like the
viruses of other diseases, can be easily changed from one form to
another by means of altering the media upon which it is grown. With
the first change in media, the B. X. virus becomes considerable
enlarged although its purplish-red color remains unchanged.
Page 6
Observation of the organism with an ordinary microscope is made
possible by a second alteration of the media. A third change is
undergone upon asparagus base media where the B. X. virus is
transformed from its filterable state into cryptomyces pleomorphia
fungi, these fungi being identical morphologically both
microscopically to that of the orchid and of the mushroom. And yet a
fourth change may be said to take place when this cryptomyces
pleomorphia, permitted to stand as a stock culture for the period of
metastasis, becomes the well-known mahogany-colored Bacillus coli.
It is Dr. Rife's belief that all micro- organisms fall into 1 of
not more then 10 individual groups (Dr. Rosenow has stated that some
of the viruses belong to the group of the streptococcus), and that any
alteration of artificial media of slight metabolic variation in
tissues will induce an organism of one group to change over into any
other organism included in that same group, it being possible,
incidentally, to carry such such changes in media or tissues to the
point where the organisms fail to respond to standard laboratory
methods of diagnosis. These changes can be made to take place in as
short a period of time as 48 hours. For instance, by altering the
media - 4 parts per million per volume - the pure culture of mahogany-
colored Bacillus coli becomes the turquoise-blue Bacillus typhosus.
Viruses of primordial cells of organisms which would ordinarily
require an 8-week incubation period to attain their filterable state,
have been shown to produce disease wi hin 3 days' time, proving Dr.
Rife's contention that the incubation period of a micro-organism is
really only a cycle of reversion.
He states :
In reality, it is not the bacteria themselves that produce the
disease, but we believe it it the chemical constituents of these
micro-organisms enacting upon the unbalanced cell metabolism of the
human body that in actuality produce the disease. We also believe if
the metabolism of the human body is perfectly balanced or poised, it
is susceptible to no disease.
In other word, the human body itself is chemical in nature, being
comprised of many chemical elements which provide the media upon which
the wealth of bacteria normally present in the human system feed.
These bacteria are able to reproduce. They, too, are composed of
chemicals. Therefore, if the media upon which they feed, in this
instance the chemicals or some portion of the chemicals of the human
body, become changed from the normal, it stands to reason that these
same bacteria, or at least certain numbers of them, will also undergo
a change chemically since they are now feeding upon media which are
not normal to them, perhaps being supplied with too much or too little
of what they need to maintain a normal existence. They change, passing
usually through several stages of growth, emerging finally as some
entirely new entity - as different morphologically as are the
caterpillar and the butterfly (to use an illustration given us). The
majority of the viruses have been definitely revealed as living
organisms, foreign organisms it is true, but which once were normal
inhabitants of the human body -living entities of a chemical nature of
composition.
Under the universal microscope disease organisms such as those of
tuberculosis, cancer, sarcoma, streptococcus, typhoid, staphylococcus,
leprosy, hoof and mouth disease, and others may be observed to succumb
Page 7
when exposed to certain lethal frequencies, coordinated with the
particular frequencies peculiar to each individual organism, and
directed upon them by rays covering a wide range of waves. By means of
a camera attachment and a motion-picture camera not built into the
instrument, many "still" micrographs as well as hundreds of feet of
motion-picture film bear witness to the complete life cycles of
numerous organisms. It should be emphasized, perhaps, that invariably
the same organisms refract the same colors. when stained by means of
the monochromatic beam of illumination on the universal microscope,
regardless of the media upon which they re grown. The virus of the
Bacillus typhosus is always a turquoise blue, the Bacillus coli always
mahogany colored, the Mycobacterium leprae always a ruby shade, the
filter-passing form of virus of tuberculosis always an emerald green,
the virus of cancer always a purplish red, and so on. Thus, with the
aid of this microscope, it is possible to reveal the typhoid organism,
for instance, in the blood of a suspected typhoid patient 4 and 5 days
before a Widal is positive. When it is desired to observe the flagella
of the typhoid-organism, Hg salts are used as the medium to see at a
magnification of 10,000 diameters.
In the light of the amazing results obtainable with this
universal microscope and its smaller brother scopes, there can be no
doubt of the ability of these instruments to actually reveal any and
all microorganisms according to their individual structure and
chemical constituents.
With the aid of its new eyes - the new microscopes, all of which
are continually being improved - science has at last penetrated beyond
the boundary of accepted theory and into the world of the viruses with
the result that we can look forward to discovering new treatments and
methods of combating the deadly organisms - for science dose not rest.
To Dr. Karl K. Darrow, Dr. John A. Kolmer, Dr. William P. Lang,
Dr. L. Marton, Dr. J. H. Renner, Dr. Royal R. Rife, Dr. Edward C.
Rosenow, Dr. Arthur W. Yale, and Dr. V. K. Zworykin, we wish to
express our appreciation for the help and information so kindly given
us and to express our gratitude, also, for the interest shown in this
effort of bringing to the attention of more of the medical profession
the possibilities offered by the new microscopes.
Page 8
DISCUSSION
OBSERVATIONS WITH THE RIFE MICROSCOPE
OF FILTER-PASSING FORMS OF MICROORGANISMS
Recently, I reported to the staff of the Mayo Clinic the more
imported observation made during three days, July 5,6 and 7, 1932,
spent in Dr. Kendall's laboratory ar Northwestern University Medical
School, Chicago. I went there at the invitation of Drs. Kendall and
Rife, to share with them their observations in a restudy of the
filter-passing forms of Eberthella typhi as seen with an improved
model of the Rife microscope. They asked me also to bring with me my
cultures of the streptococcus from poliomyelitis.
I would like to repeat here that portion of my report which had
to do specifically with the Rife microscope.
Owing to the novel and important character of the work, each of
us verified at every step the results obtained. Microscopic
examinations of suitable specimens was made as a routine by Dr. Rife
with his high-power microscope,by Dr. Kendall with the oil immersion
dark field, and by myself with the ordinary Zeiss microscope equipped
with a 2 mm apochromatic oil immersion lens and 100 X 10 ocular giving
a magnification of about 90 diameters. Most observations with the Rife
microscope were made at 8,000 diameters. In order to check the
magnification, gram and safranin stained films of cultures of
Eberthella typhi, of the streptococcus from poliomyelitis, and stained
films of blood, and of the sediment of the spinal fluid from a case of
acute poliomyelitis were examined. Bacilli, streptococci,
erythrocytes, polymorphonuclear leukoeytes and lymphocytes were
clearly seen, and in each instance were, as nearly as could be
examined with the 2 mm oil immersion at about 900 diameters.
The following principles and methods were stated by Dr. Rife as
being essential in order to visualize clearly the objects at this and
higher magnifications by direct observation. Spherical aberration is
reduced to the minimum and magnification greatly increased by using
objectives in place of oculars. Proper visualization, especially of
unstained objects, is obtained by the use of an intense beam of
monochromatic polarizes light created by rotating wedge-shaped quartz
prisms placed between the source of light and the substage quartz
condenser. Dispersion of the transmitted rays of light, as they pass
upward to the eye, is prevented by passing them through a series of
quartz erecting (90 degrees) prisms. Projection of the rays of light
through air is not greater tan 30 mm at any point.
In my original report I summarized as follows:
There can be no question of the existence of the filterable
turquoise blue bodies of Eberthella-typhi described by Kendall. They
are not visible by ordinary methods of illumination and magnification,
not because they are too small. but rather, it appears, because of
their peculiar non-staining hyalin structure. Their visualization
under the Rife microscope is due to the ingenious methods employed
rather there is to excessively high magnification. Examination under
the Rife microscope of specimens, containing objects visible with the
ordinary microscope, leaves no doubt of the accurate visualization of
Page 9
objects or particulate matter by direct observation at the extremely
high magnification (calculated to be 8,000 diameters) obtained with
this instrument.
The findings under the Rife microscope of cocci and diplococci in
filtrated of cultures of the streptococcus from poliomyelitis, and in
filtrates of the streptococcus from poliomyelitis, and herpes
encephalitis, not detectable by the ordinary methods of examination.
and which resembled in form and size those found in the respective
cultures, and the absence of minute forms, suggest that the
filterable, inciting agent of these diseases is not necessarily
extremely small, as is universally believed. Indeed, the filterable,
inciting agent may be the non-staining, highly plastic, hyaline stage
of the visible, stainable, cultivable organism, the streptococcus.
It is, of course, possible that these unstained, invisible forms
revealed by ordinary methods of examination are nit the inciting
agents or `viruses' of these diseases and that they represent merely
the filterable of other state of the streptococcus. A consideration of
the great difficulty one has in isolating the streptococcus and
demonstrating diplococci in lesions in these diseases and the ease
with which the bodies are found in the filtrate indicate clearly that
the `invisible' forms of the streptococcus, if such they be, are
present in large numbers in the host, as in positive cultures of the
streptococcus. Their form, size and color are too characteristic and
true to type to permit considering them as artifacts or as being
expressive of etiologically unrelated, contaminating streptococci.
Non- infectivity of the filter-passing forms, except in the cases of
virus diseases, their presence in large numbers in filtrates, both of
cultures and of infected tissues, and the great difficulty in
obtaining the visible forms in cultures of filtrates indicate that
"invisible," filter-passing forms represent a certain stage in the
development of microorganisms.
Edward C. Rosenow
Rochester, Minnesota
typed by Ron Barker for KeelyNet
Page 10

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