526 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



takes place only in sugar-free media. Colonies of B. coli are black and 

 easily counted against a white background. Certain other organisms, 

 notably B. lactis aerogenes, form black colonies, but are distinguishable 

 from those of B. coli in being larger, moister, and more raised. 



The method of making the media is given as follows : Weigh out 

 1-2 p.c. Witte's peptone ; • 5 p.c. sodium taurocholate ; 0*1 p.c. 

 aesculin ; 0'05 p.c. iron citrate ; 100 c.cm. tap-water. After steaming 

 from fifteen to thirty minutes the medium is filtered and filled into test- 

 tubes. For aesculin agar 1 ■ 5 p.c. agar is used, and after dissolving the 

 agar in part of the water the remaining ingredients are added, brought to 

 the boil and filtered, or else the medium is cooled by the addition of 

 white of egg or albumen, again brought to the boil and then filtered 

 and tubed. The tubes are afterwards sterilised in the usual way. In 

 the broth the medium turns black. After inoculating tubes and slopes 

 with the suspected fluid, the rest of the sample receives some 10 c.cm. of 

 4-times strength aesculin bile-salt broth and then all tubes, plates, 

 bottles, etc., are incubated. 



Modification of Kindborg's Acid-fuchsin Agar.* — Doepner appre- 

 ciates Kindborg's acid-fuchsin agar for detecting Bacillus typhosus in 

 stools and urine. To this medium, which is composed of agar stained red 

 by means of 5 p.c. of saturated aqueous solution of acid-fuchsin, and also 

 containing 5 p.c. lactose, the author advises the addition of malachite- 

 green, thus combining the benefits of the two procedures. 



Cultivation of Leishmania infantum, the parasite of Infantile 

 Kala-azar.f — C. Nieolle shows that this disease occurs in Tunis, and 

 describes the method he adopted for successfully cultivating this 

 organism. Agar is macerated in cold water for 24 hours, the water 

 being changed once. The amount of water absorbed is noted. The 

 formula is as follows : agar 14 grm., common salt 6 grm., water 000 c.cm. 

 This is distributed into test-tubes without neutralising or alkalinising, 

 and then the tubes are sterilised in the autoclave. The tubes, the con- 

 tents of which are liquefied at from 48°-52°, then receive one-third of 

 their volume of rabbit's blood removed from the heart aseptically. 

 The tubes are then sloped for 12 hours, and are afterwards incubated 

 for 2 to 3 days at 37°. As the condensation water was small it was 

 found advisable to add an equal volume of normal serum. The in- 

 oculations were made with a pipette or with a platinum loop. The 

 foregoing method is a modification of that devised by Novy and McNeal.J 



Method of Detecting Indol.§ — G. Morelli uses strips of blotting- 

 paper soaked in a hot saturated solution of oxalic acid. When cold the 

 strips are suspended in the culture tube, and if indol be formed they 

 turn red. 



New Method of Isolating Human Tubercle Bacilli. ||—F. W. Twort 

 states that by means of a glucoside, ericolin, tubercle bacilli can be 



* Ceutralbl. Bakt., lte Abt. Orig., 1. (1909) pp. 552-60. 

 t Ann. Inst. Pasteur, xxiii. (1909) pp. 361-401 (2 pis.), 

 j See tbis Journal, 1904, p. 116. 



§ Centralbl. Bakt., lte Abt. Orig., 1. (1909) pp. 113-15. 

 || Proc. Roy. Soc, Series B, lxxxi. (1909) p. 218. 



