ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 161 



Schizophyta . 

 Schizomycetes. 



Streptothrix of Rat-bite Fever.* — F. C. Blake reports the case of 

 a woman who had been bitten on the finger by a rat. She was admitted 

 to hospital two weeks later with fever, severe pains, and marked prostra- 

 tion. iJeath occurred fifteen days after admission. A blood examina- 

 tion on the first day gave an abundant growth of a streptothrix, both 

 in aerobic and anaerobic culture. A second blood culture, four days 

 later, was negative, but the organism was again recovered at the autopsy. 

 The organism gave positive agglutination with the patient's blood-serum, 

 Itefore death, in so high a dilution as 1 in 320. It was very slightly 

 pathogenic for rabbits and white rats, and not at all for guinea-pigs. 

 The streptothrix, which was Gram-negative, may be identified with the 

 Streptothrix muris ratti, which has been described by Schottmiiller as the 

 causal organism of rat-bite fever. 



Etiolog'y of Typhus.f — W. J. Penfold has isolated anew coccus from 

 the lesions of typhus fever. The organism is Gram-positive, gives pure 

 plates of green colonies on pepton blood-agai', grows at room tem- 

 perature, and does not liquefy gelatin. The author's summary and con- 

 clusions are as follows : — 



Summary. — 1. The same coccus was found in the blood and urine 

 of two patients suffering from typhus, and also in the urine of a con- 

 valescent of nine-days' standing. 2. European typhus blood causes the 

 same types of fever reaction in monkeys as American and North African 

 typhus. 3. The coccus above mentioned has been isolated from the 

 blood of infected monkeys. 4. Fever has been produced after a six-days' 

 incubation by the inoculation of a pure culture of the above coccus into 

 two moukeys. 5. The above coccus is fairly closely related to cocci 

 described by other authors, as far as the published data admit of a com- 

 parison. 6. The coccus is not injured by long exposure to low tempera- 

 ture, viz. 2" C. 



Conclusions. — 1. The actual organism causing typhus is still not fully 

 decided, but the balance of evidence available is in favour of its being 

 due to a coccus. 2. The claims of Plotz to have discovered the cause of 

 the disease are largely discounted by the contradictory nature of his 

 publications. 3. Cocci have been found in the blood so frequently 

 by independent and competent observers, that the use of these cocci 

 tentatively as a prophylactic vaccine appears to be indicated. 



Contribution to the Etiology of Gas-gangrene. if— Weinberg and 

 P. Seguin have isolated an organism, which they describe under the 

 name of Bacillas histolylicus, from the lesions of war wounds. This 



* Journ. Exper. Med., xxiii. (1916) pp. 39-60. 



t Trans. Soc. Trop. IMed. and Hygiene, ix. (1916) pp. 105-15. 



X Comptes Rendus, clxiii. (1916) pp. 449-51. 



Feb. 2Ut, 1917 m 



