176 SUMMARY UK CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



inoculation of washings from the mouths of scarlet fever patients and 

 from cultures obtained from these washings. That the condition 

 induced in the monkey was most probably that of scarlet fever is home 

 out by the appearance of Dohle's bodies' in the blood of the infected 

 animals. These bodies, which are not parasitic in nature, are constantly 

 met with in the blood of scarlet fever patients, and cannot be experi- 

 mentally produced by the injection of Staphylococci, Streptococci, 

 B.protem, tuberculin, thallianin, and so forth. The organism isolated 

 from the monkey, and which is believed to be the specific organism, 

 or one of the specific organisms, of scarlet fever, only grows on serum- 

 containing media and not on ordinary agar or broth. In its morphology 

 and staining reactions it closely resembles the pneumococcus, but does not 

 show capsules, either in the tissues of the monkey or in the heart's blood 

 of the mouse. The colonies, which at first resemble those of Streptococci, 

 soon become quite distinctive, and may be recognized as being perfectly 

 circular and presenting a ringed marking with a slightly denser centre, 

 but they may have a uniform crinkled surface and, occasionally, a 

 crenated margin. Sometimes the margin is distinctly raised, and in this 

 case the centre becomes thinner than it was originally. The greenish 

 colonies on blood agar plates also resemble the pneumococcus. Milk is 

 rendered acid and is sometimes coagulated. The organism also produces 

 acid in lactose, cane sugar, glucose, maltose, raffinose, and inulin. 

 Mannite is slowly attacked, while clulcite and adonite are not changed. 

 The diplococcus is pathogenic to mice on subcutaneous inoculation. 



Torula marina.* — H. Coupin found in a Portuguese oyster a yeast 

 which, grown on gelatin, formed circular whitish colonies, about 1 mm- 

 in diameter. Sown in pepton-sea-water, a white powdery deposit was 

 thrown down. There was no turbidity of the medium nor any surface 

 scum. The deposit consisted of round yeast-cells, mostly 2 to 3 p. in 

 diameter. There was much budding, but no spores. 



The Torulagvew well in sea-water to which glucose, gelatin, or agar 

 was added. In saccharated media no gas is formed, but slight fermen- 

 tation occurs slowly with some sugars. 



The author thinks the organism, though adapted to salt-water, has 

 a sweet-water origin. It is easily cultivated in media made with sweet- 

 water, and it grows luxuriantly on carrot and potato. 



Nitroso-Bacteria.f— H. S. Fremlin states that the nitroso-bacterium 

 grows readily in or on ammonia agar, especially if 5 or 10 p.c. of beef 

 broth be added. Potassium-phosphate agar containing bouillon-gelatin, 

 but not ammonia, also leads to the formation, first of ammonia, and then 

 of nitrite. Urine is also a good culture medium ; so, too, are pepton- 

 water, pepton-beef-broth, and milk or blood serum. The nitroso- 

 bacterium is a powerful nitrite-forming organism. It is not readily 

 destroyed, and a certain amount of organic matter is essential to its 

 better development. 



* Comptes Rendus, clx. (1915) pp. 251-2. 



t Journ. Hygiene, xiv. (1914) pp. 149-62, through Journ. Chem. Soc, cvii. and 

 cviii. (1915) 1, p. 46. 



