ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 235 



much sediment ; on potato, growth is variable— with some stains it is 

 only slight, with others it is good, resembling that of B. mucosum ; milk 

 usually coagulates after many days, a later peptonising of the coagulum 

 rarely happens ; gas production, H 2 S formation, and indol reaction were 

 not observed ; gelatin was not liquefied. Growth was equally good 

 under anaerobic and under aerobic conditions. The various strains were 

 pathogenic for white mice, guinea-pigs, rats and rabbits, and were 

 equally toxic by subcutaneous and intraperitoneal injection, death 

 occurring usually after 2-4 days, according to the dose administered. 

 The author refers to several varieties of similar organisms described by 

 other writers, and indicates where these differ from that isolated by 

 himself. 



Variable Galactan Bacterium.* — R. Greig Smith isolated a slime 

 bacterium from Strychnos Atherstonei ; it grew on gelatin plates as 

 almost powdery colonies, lying on the surface of the medium and 

 breaking into fragments when touched with a needle. Pure cultures 

 were prepared by repeated cultivation on glucose-gelatin plates. The 

 pure cultures infected into saccharose pepton fluid produce slime. The 

 slime was also formed from other carbohydrates, especially maltose 

 and glycerin, and to a slighter extent from galactose, lajvulose, 

 dextrose, lactose, and invert-sugar ; the production of slime being 

 measured by the viscosity, which is determined by noting the time in 

 seconds during which 5 c.cm. of the culture passed through a pipette with 

 a capillary orifice. The author employed the glycerin medium for the 

 production of large quantities of the gum ; this on analysis he found to 

 be a galactan. 



On cultivation, the bacterium was observed to take on a modified 

 type, with the formation of yellow, slimy colonies on glucose gelatin ; 

 this depends on an alteration of the solubility of the gum. He has 

 named the organism Bacillus Atherstonei. Morphologically, it occurs as 

 plump, round-ended rods, 1 • 2 \x by • 7 fx-0 • 8 /x, and in saccharose 

 pepton-fluid threads up to 7*5 /x may be formed. The bacillus is 

 motile, but flagella could not be stained ; it is non-sporing ; it does not 

 stain by Gram's method ; it grows at 30° C, but gum or slime is only 

 produced at or below 22° C. Details of the cultural characteristics on 

 various media are °;iven. 



&* 



Epidemic Cerebrospinal Meningitis and its Specific Cause.f — 

 A. Bettencourt and C. Franca have studied bacteriologically 271 cases of 

 cerebrospinal meningitis, and in all, with three exceptions, they found 

 the Micrococcus intracellular is meningitidis of "Weichselbaum. 



Material for the research was obtained by lumbar punctures and 

 from the cerebral ventricles after death. Ascitic agar and broth, to 

 which cerebrospinal fluid had been added, were used as media. In six 

 cases cultures were made from venous blood, but they all remained 

 sterile. Direct examination of cerebrospinal fluid showed in acute 

 cases a preponderance of polymorphonuclear leucocytes ; in protracted 

 cases these were replaced by lymphocytes and mononuclear cells. Inside 



♦ Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 190i, p. U2. 



t Centralbl. Bakt., l ,e Abt. Kef., xxxv. (1905) 



pp. 769-71. 



R 2 



