ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 83 



medium most favourable to the production of this phenomenon was pre- 

 pared by dissolving 10 p.c. of gelatin in cane-juice, and rendering the 

 medium neutral to phenolphthalein by the addition of dilute potassium 

 hydrate. 



The organism is a short motile rod, 1 to 2 p. long, with a variable 

 number of flagella, from a single terminal one to nine arranged around 

 the bacillus. It is an obligate aerobe, and does not form spores ; it 

 stains feebly with methylen-blue, but well with fuchsin and violet, and 

 is decolorised by Gram's method. Its optimum temperature is 28° C. 

 On gelatin it forms raised, rounded, glistening, white colonies, with a 

 dark, granular, areolate centre and crenate margin. In broth the 

 medium becomes turbid, and pellicle-formation occurs ; traces of indol 

 .are sometimes found. Milk is coagulated in about 10 days, with faintly 

 acid reaction. On potato the growth is thin, flat, and dry, glistening, 

 and of a deep yellow colour. 



Bacteria of the Milk-ducts of the Cow.* — C.Gorini examined milk 

 collected (with all possible attention to asepsis) from 14 cows belonging 

 to the Berne Institute, 6 from an outside dairy, and 2 from a third 

 source. He found that no one udder was completely sterile, the 

 number of bacteria observed per cubic centimetre from each teat vary- 

 ing from a minimum of 20 to a maximum of 300,000. The bacterial 

 flora of the teats consisted chiefly, and sometimes exclusively, of cocci, 

 which were similar in morphology. By their action upon gelatin and 

 milk, however, the author is able to distinguish five types, three of 

 which liquefy gelatin and coagulate milk, though at different rates of 

 time ; the remaining two types coagulate milk, but do not liquefy 

 gelatin. He therefore concludes that these cocci represent the normal 

 bacterial flora of the galactiferous ducts of the cow, and that the 

 B. acidi lactici does not not exist as a normal saprophyte in this situa- 

 tion, n milk from 6 cows from an outside dairy streptococci were found. 



Bacteriology of Natural Mineral Waters. f — G. v. Rigler, as the 

 result of numerous chemical and bacteriological examinations of German 

 and Austro-Hungarian natural mineral waters, states that they are but 

 very rarely germ-free, and that further contamination takes place in the 

 process of bottling. The chief varieties of bacteria he has isolated from 

 these waters, arranged in order of frequency, are B. fluorescent liqi/e- 

 faciens, B. fluorescms non-liquefaciens, B. aquatilis odor arts, B. chryso- 

 yloza, B. aquatilis communis, B. arborescens non-liquefaciens, B. gaso- 

 jormes non-liquefaciens, Micrococcus candicans, M. sulphureus, M. rosevs, 

 and Actinomyces alia. 



Bacillus of Soft Sore.| — F. Besancon, V. Griffon, and Le Sourd, 

 using a gelatin medium containing rabbits' blood, were able to obtain a 

 bacillus from primary soft sores, and also from the pus of buboes. The 

 bacillus occurs microscopically as slender rods, singly, in groups of 

 parallel individuals, or in chains placed end to end. It exhibits polar 

 staining, and retains the stain when treated by Gram's method. When 



* Atti Eeale Acead. d. Lincei, xi. (1902) pp. 150-65. 



f Centralbl. Bakt. (Ref.), V Abt., xxxi. (1902) pp. 681-2. Se3 aleo Hyg-. 

 Rundschau, xii. (1902) p. 473. 



t Centralbl. Bakt. (Ref.), 1«« Abt., xxxi. (1902) p. 122. See also Gaz. ties 

 Hopitaux, 1900, No. 141. 



G 2 



