218 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



intracellular toxin. Organisms grown on ordinary beef-broth agar were,. 

 after washing, disintegrated in a mechanical contrivance at — 180° C. 

 When the disintegrated mass is freed from whole bacilli (if present) 

 and from other suspended insoluble particles by centrifugalisation, an 

 opalescent fluid remains which on inoculation into animals in small 

 closes invariably proves toxic or fatal. The authors had previously 

 shown that the filtrates from cultures of bacillus on the actual intra- 

 cellular juices of organs and tissues obtained in a fresh condition from 

 the ox or calf, did not exhibit toxic power. Hence they conclude that 

 the poison is intracellular and not extracellular. 



Antibodies of Spores of Bacteria.* — W. Defalle finds that the 

 injection of the spores of bacteria into the animal body results in the 

 formation of an antibody in tbe serum of the animal. It was shown 

 that the formation of this antibody was entirely due to the absorption 

 of the spores as sucb, and not as the result of their germination. 



Leprosy- Bacillus.f — The research of W. "W. Iwanhow, who experi- 

 mented chiefly upon dogs and guinea-pigs, shows that, in spite of the 

 rapid phagocytosis of leprosy bacilli injected into the peritoneal cavity, 

 the bacilli are very numerous, and for the most part quite unaltered 

 eight months after injection. At the end of one month, the bacilli are 

 also found to occur with more or less regularity in the internal organs, 

 e. g. liver, spleen, kidneys, &c. 



Putrefaction of Meat.| — After a brief historical survey of the 

 question, Tissier and Martelly give an account, in considerable detail, 

 of the methods employed by them in their research. 



Thirteen species of bacteria were isolated, and a description of each, 

 with an account of its action upon the constituents of meat, is given. 

 Of the thirteen species isolated, five are new. The organisms group 

 themselves naturally into two classes, viz. those attacking both the 

 carbohydrates and proteids of the meat, and those attacking the proteids 

 alone. Organisms of the former class bring about the first stage in the 

 putrefactive processes, the sugar, as such, being destroyed, and the 

 attack upon the proteids begun. This stage is followed by that in 

 which the action upon the albumin and its derivatives is completed by 

 the purely proteolytic bacteria of the latter class. The authors find 

 that the species most potent in bringing about the putrefactive changes 

 are Bacillus putrificus coll, Micrococcus flavus liqvefaciens, and Bacillus 

 bifermentans sporogems, the latter being one of the new species. 



Bacteriology.§ — The section Bacteriology (R) of the International 

 Catalogue of Scientific Literature appeared early in the year. Dr. J. W. H. 

 Eyre is the referee for the volume, which contains 814 pages. The first 

 part consists of an authors catalogue, the second of a subject catalogue. 

 The subject-matter is subdivided as follows : — (1) General, including 

 Philosophy, History, Periodicals, Reports, Bibliography, Text-books, 



* Ann. Inst. Pasteur, xvi. (1902) pp. 756-74. 



t Tom. cit. pp. 705-33 (2 pis.). J Tom. cit., pp. S65-903. 



S B § International Catalogue of Scientific Literature. First Annual Issue. R. Bac- 

 teriology. Royal Society of London, December 1902. 



