490 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



flower, but not found in the Brussels sprout, and characterised by a 

 necrosis and livid coloration of the leaves affected. On microscopic 

 examination the diseased cells were seen to contain a number of bacteria 

 which the author has shown to be the cause of the disease. The 

 organisms are motile rods with blunt ends, 1 ■ 25 //.-l ■ 75 fx long and 

 0'5 //.-()• 75 fi broad ; they grow well on ordinary media, which acquire 

 a pale green fluorescent colour after the second day, and later become 

 brown and lose their fluorescence. Broth becomes clouded, has a dirty 

 white deposit, and in young cultures there is a delicate pellicle ; on 

 gelatin it forms small shining convex circular colonies of a dirty white 

 colour, the gelatin not being liquefied ; on agar similar colonies are 

 formed, but the green coloration of the medium is less than on the 

 gelatin ; potato is coloured a vivid brown ; no production of gas was 

 observed on any medium. The organism stains by ordinary dyes but 

 not by Gram. The presence of spores or flagella could not be demon- 

 strated. The author has assigned it the name of Bacillus brassiccevori/s. 

 Several species of cabbage were successfully infected both from the pulp 

 of the diseased plant and from the first culture of the bacillus ; the 

 pathogenic action of the tissue is probably caused by a bacterial secre- 

 tion. The author considers that this disease is distinct from that caused 

 by Pseudomonas campestris (Erwin F. Smith), aud also from that pro- 

 duced by B. oleracece, (F. C. Harrison), since it differs from these both 

 in the appearance of the disease and in the characters of the organism. 



Swine Septicaemia.* — Grips, Glage, and Nieberle have made a 

 detailed study of this subject, and give a description of the symptoms and 

 course of the disease, also its morbid anatomy, epidemiology and bac- 

 teriology. They find that it affects young animals, chiefly pigs ; that 

 cold, change of food, and rough weather increase the severity of the 

 disease, and that its prevalence rises with the onset of winter. The 

 incubation period is 3-17 days ; fever and increased frequency of the 

 pulse is not the rule : indeed, in fatal cases the temperature is usually 

 subnormal. The infection is characterised by catarrh of the mucous 

 membranes, suppurations and severe inflamations, nervous symptoms, 

 digestive disturbances, and skin eruptions. The authors find that the 

 disease is caused by the Grips bacillus, varying sized rods that exhibit 

 neither motility nor spore formation ; it stains well by basic anilin dyes, 

 especially with carbol-f uchsin, but only feebly by Gram ; it grows either 

 aerobically or anaerobically, but with frequent subculture it loses its 

 vitality ; it grows best at blood heat, and serum and milk are the most 

 favourable media ; colonies appear on serum after 2-7 days, and later 

 the medium is almost completely liquefied ; in serum broth a grey 

 flocculent deposit is formed. Sterilised milk appears to be a more 

 certain medium than serum ; in 24 hours there is a good growth, and 

 after 48 hours the milk has begun to clot, and a clear whey separates 

 out after 4 or 5 days. This organism is only rarely pathogenic for 

 guinea pigs ; for white mice it is fatal after intraperitoneal injection ; 

 rabbits die in 3-5 days after an intra-peritoneal injection of 7 c.cm. 

 showing at the autopsy numerous encapsuled abscesses in the abdominal 



* Centralbl. Bakt., Kef. 1 te Abt.. xxxviii. (1905) p. 4S8. 



