632 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



10 days sinks in the bubble of liquefaction ; in urea-gelatin stab cul- 

 tures there is a more vigorous growth of the white-grey thread reaching 

 to the bottom of the track, on the surface a white expansion, which after 

 8-10 days is h cin.-f cm. broad, has a fringed margin, and sinks as the slow 

 liquefaction appears, but after 14 days the gelatin is still firm. On agar 

 streak a spreading white-grey, moist, shining growth with ragged fringed 

 margins ; on urea-agar streak there grows a thin, finely granular, milky, 

 transparent expansion of low vitality ; subcultures after 14 days are un- 

 successful. In broth there is a slow appearance of cloudiness without ring 

 or pellicle formation, a white-grey powdery, later rather slimy, deposit ; 

 slight indol production. In milk cultures the chief changes to note are 

 slight clearing and more alkaline reaction ; no special peptonising of the 

 casein was observed after several weeks at room temperature. The 

 growth on potato is slow, and at first hardly to be distinguished from 

 the medium, but after about 10 days there is a colourless faintly shining 

 expansion, becoming slimy later and of a flesh to brown colour. 



Decomposition of Albuminoids by Cladothrix Chromogenes.* — 

 M. E. Mace finds that Cladothrix chromogenes grows well in liquid blood 

 serum, colouring the medium a deep brown, and producing that peculiar 

 odour that is characteristic of this group of organisms. After a few 

 months the medium has become more fluid and no longer coagulates by 

 heat, but gives on boiling a heavy flocculent precipitate. This liquid 

 contains ammonia and pro-peptones, but no indol ; it forms an abundant 

 white crystalline deposit, which on shaking has a shining spangly aspect ; 

 the crystals consist of tyrosin, leucin, and glycocol. 



Bacteriology of Appendicitis.f — Perrone obtains drops of liquid 

 aseptically from the interior of the appendix immediately after the 

 operation, and after preparing direct specimens to ascertain the relative 

 abundance of microbes in the liquid, he makes progressive dilutions into 

 10 tubes of broth, and with 1 c.cm. from each of these he inoculates 

 10 tubes of sloped agar, for aerobic culture, and 10 tubes of sugar-agar 

 for anaerobic culture. As soon as the colonies begin to be visible they 

 are isolated and subcultured on agar and broth. He gives clinical, 

 pathological, and bacteriological details of 14 cases. He found B. coli 

 in 10 ; Diplostreptococcus of Tavel in 6 ; Streptococcus pyogenes in 4 ; 

 B. frag His of Veillon and Zuber in 7 ; B. perfringens, an almost strict 

 anaerobe, in 6 ; B. proteus in 2 ; and Pneumococcus, Staphylococcus, 

 B. pyocyaneus, and B.fusiformis, each in 1 case. The appendix was 

 found sterile in 1 case. He notes and lays great stress on the prepon- 

 derance of anaerobes over aerobes, and does not share the opinion of 

 many authors that the B. coli is the pathogenic organism of appendicitis. 



Micro-Organisms in the Intestines of Infants.! — A. Rodella finds 

 that in the intestines of infants various peptonising microbes are found ; 

 that they are more numerous in bottle-fed children, and that the 

 anaerobic conditions in no way hinder the peptonisation of the casein. 

 As the result of many observations, he concludes that the action of 

 trypsin on albuminoids is not hindered by acids. He differs from 



* Comptes Rendus, cxli. (1905) p. 147. 

 + Ann. Inst. Pasteur, xix. (1905) p. 667. J Tom. cit, p. 406. 



