112 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



incubated anaerobically, showed the presence of typical Tetanus bacilli 

 with spores after 48 hours. Portions of the spleen, taken at the 

 autopsy, were inoculated into a guinea-pig, which died with symptoms 

 of Tetanus (coverslip preparations from the local lesion showing typical 

 bacilli with spores). Broth cultures, inoculated from the local lesion 

 and incubated anaerobically, showed the presence of Tetanus bacilli 

 associated with streptococci and staphylococci. In three other cases of 

 Tetanus all attempts to isolate the organism from the spleen, cerebral 

 fluid, heart blood, and bone marrow gave negative results. He refers 

 to the cases of Oetlingen and Zumpe, Nicolaius and others, where the 

 Tetanus bacillus was isolated from the organs of the body. 



Varieties in the Growth of Bacillus Pyocyaneus on Nutrient 

 Agar.* — Hinterberg and Reitman find that there are differences in the 

 growth of this bacillus on nutrient agar, according as the medium con- 

 tains more or less water, and has a moist or dry surface. They give 

 details of their methods for obtaining nutrient agar of various con- 

 centrations, and the technique of making moist or dry surfaces to the 

 medium in the Petri dishes. When grown on weak moist agar, they 

 find that the colonies of B. pyocyaneus are smooth and shining, almost, 

 fluid, of a blue-green colour, and with iridescent margins ; they spread 

 over the entire surface of the medium ; and are most easily removed 

 by the platinum needle. 



Grown on dry and concentrated agar, the colonies are scanty, of a 

 pale-green colour, often appearing as if etched on the surface ; the- 

 centre of the colony is somewhat gelatinous, the margins slightly 

 wrinkled ; they hardly extend beyond the inoculated surface, and are 

 so firmly attached to the medium that it is difficult to remove the 

 growth with a platinum needle. Coverslip preparations were made and 

 stained by Van Ermengem's method. Those made from the moist agar 

 24 hours' old colonies, showed only bacilli with polar flagella. Those 

 from the dry agar colonies of the same age, showed a spider-web net- 

 work of very fine threads, stretching between clumps of bacilli, lying 

 among them a few bacillary bodies with indistinctly outlined capsules,. 

 and some free flagella. 



They found that if the concentration of the medium is carried 

 too far, the bacilli cease to grow well ; they are smaller and stain feebly j 

 and it was harder to obtain a clean preparation, since portions of the 

 medium were always taken away with the culture. They consider that. 

 the network of threads, which are seen in the stained preparations made- 

 from cultures grown on agar of high concentration, is produced by 

 portions of stained medium, which have become included in the emul- 

 sion made on the coverslip. The bacilli grown on the moist weak agar 

 can readily move over the surface, and, moreover, they need to do so,, 

 and they accordingly produce motile organs. The same organism, grown 

 on a rich medium with a dry surface, can move less easily, but finds 

 sufficient nourishment in its immediate vicinity, and grows roots. 



Cultivation and Staining of Amoebae.! — W. E. Musgrave and 

 M. T. Clegg, who have been studying the subject of amoebiasis for 



* Centralbl. Bakt, l'e Abt. xxxvii. (1904) pp. 169-77. 



t Publications Bureau Gov. Lab., No. 18, part i. Manila (1904) 85 pp., 35 figs. 



