RIFE'S MICROSCOPE - THE SMITHSONIAN REPORT
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 surpass 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.
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 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 is desired to be examined may be located 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 arc 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 lift, 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 dried 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 Medium
and incubated at 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 magnificatinn 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 next 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 resolution of 900 diameters, were
revealed with unusual clarity. Seen 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
underthe 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 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 the 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 the 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
were 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 considerably enlarged although its purplish-red color
remains unchanged.
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 than 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 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 within 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 is 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 words, 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
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 of the universal microscope, regardless of the media upon
which they are 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.
DISCUSSION:
Recently, I reported to the staff of the Mayo Clinic the more important
observation made during three days, July 5, 6 and 7, 1932, spent in
Dr.Kendall's laboratory at 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 polarized 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.
The findings under the Rife microscope of cocci and diplococci in
filtrated 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 not the inciting agents or
'viruses' of these diseases and that they represent merely the filterable
or 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 the
masarti factsor as being expressive of etiologically unrelated,
contaminating streptococci. Noninfectivity 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.