ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 1 1 1 



qi solid rubber cork, and the glass cock turned, and the whole set aside 

 to cool, and if solid medium to solidify. When the medium is inocu- 

 lated the vial is held neck downwards, the rubber cork is removed, 

 hydrogen is conducted through the glass cock ; and after inoculation, 

 it is corked again without any air having been let in. 



Isolating Bacillus Typhosus from the Blood and Organs after 

 Death.* — By the method devised by Fraenkel and Simmonds the spleen 

 is incubated for 24 hours, and the bacilli can then be readily shown 

 histologically. For cultivation from the blood, 10-25 c.cm. are dis- 

 tributed on four to six plates of glycerin agar. This medium is pre- 

 ferred to Loeffler's serum, as it is transparent, is not liquefied, and 

 keeps well. 



Bacteriological Examination of Water in the Atlantic Ocean.t 

 Otto and Neumann, during a voyage from Europe to Brazil, made a 

 number of examinations of sea water taken at different depths and at 

 different distances from the land. They found that the numbers of 

 organisms were less in the high sea than nearer to shore ; their results 

 in mid-ocean at a depth of 5 metres show a maximum of 120 and a 

 mean of only 60 germs per cubic centimetre. The fact that the numbers 

 were often less at the surface and slightly below it than at a depth of 

 50 metres, they attribute to the disinfecting action of the sun's rays. 

 The greater numbers found at certain depths may be explained by the 

 presence of deep currents. Their plates showed Coli-like bacilli, Fluores- 

 centes, Proteus-like liquefying organisms, sometimes white and yellowish 

 non-liquefying colonies of rods ; occasional vibrios and moulds. 



They devised a special collecting apparatus that would act at definite 

 depths and under the varying conditions of the sea, and the rate of 

 travelling of the ship. This consists of a copper cylinder firmly bound 

 to a rope line at the end of which is a 30 kilogrm. lead weight ; the 

 cylinder is provided above and below with a G-holed brass plate, which 

 is closed by means of rubber plates held fast by screws. At the side 

 there is an opening by which the collected water can be let off. When 

 the apparatus is lowered into the depth, the rubber plates will be raised 

 and the water rushes in through the cylinder ; on raising by pulling on 

 the line, the resulting enormous pressure forces down the rubber plates 

 and closes the openings of entry and exit, and the water has been 

 collected at the desireddepth. To determine the exact depth at which 

 the sample was collected, an inverted testrtube lined with chromate of 

 silver was fixed to the line ; the red of the chromate is changed to 

 white from below upwards, according to the height to which the sea 

 water has entered the tube, and this is dependent on the pressure 

 existing at the depth. With this instrument a scale of true depths 

 was made. 



Isolating Tetanus Bacillus from the Spleen. $ — Creite states that 

 broth cultures, inoculated with portions of the excised wound and 



* Centralbt. Bakt., Ref. 1" AM, xxxv.(1904) p. 654. 



t Op. cit., '2 ,e Abt.. xiii.(1904) pp. 4S1-9. 



X Op. cit., P Abt., xxxvii. (1904) pp. 312-14). 



