ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 569 



affected seed. Of 109 samples of celery seed, 100 were found to have 

 pycnidia of the fungus upon them. It was proved definitely and clearly 

 that the disease can be contracted and propagated by the use of affected 

 seed bearing the fungus in a living state on it. By treating such seeds 

 with formaldehyde, hydrogen-peroxide, or copper sulphate solution the 

 fungus can be rendered innocuous. Studying the effects of these solutions 

 on germination it was found that the treatment with copper sulphate 

 caused a serious decline in the percentage of germination, but in the 

 case of the other liquids the effect was practically nil. 



H. A. Allard* gives a detailed review of the investigations on the 

 mosaic disease of tobacco, together with a bibliography comprising sixty- 

 four of the more important contributions on the subject. 



Schizophyta. 

 Schizomyeetes. 



Behaviour of the Hansen Bacillus in vitro.f — 0. W. Duval, 

 working with leprous tissues, finds that multiplication of the acid-fast 

 rods of Bacillus leprae takes place in removed leprous tissue under aerobic 

 conditions and within a temperature range of 25-37° C. The growth 

 in the tissue is moist and translucent, and, on removal, readily forms a 

 homogeneous turbidity when suspended in liquid. Growth in sub- 

 culture is difficult to obtain, and, according to the author's experience, 

 only occurs when the artificial medium contains the split products of 

 animal protein. 



He does not regard the diphtheroids, so often described in connexion 

 with leprosy, as having anything more than an accidental relation to 

 the disease. 



Boas-Oppler Bacillus. J — H. M. Gait and C. C. lies are of opinion that 

 the large Gram-positive bacillus isolated by Boas and Oppler from the 

 gastric contents in carcinoma of the stomach is identical with Bacillus 

 bulgaricus and is not an organism sui generis, and that the B. bifidus 

 of Tissier is also probably identical with these organisms. The inference 

 is drawn that in cases of cancer of the stomach it is the absence of 

 hydrochloric acid that allows of the growth of the bacillus, and that the 

 lactic acid is formed as a result of the activity of this organism. 



Bacillus abortivus equinus in Infectious Arthritis of Colts. § 

 E. S. Good and W. V. Smith have isolated an organism in pure culture 

 from the synovial fluid of a colt dead of " septic arthritis," which is 

 apparently one and the same germ as that causing infectious abortion 

 in mares {Bacillus abortivus). Not only are the organisms culturally and 

 morphologically indistinguishable, but the joint organism gives positive 



* Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, xli. (1914) pp. 435-58. 



t Amer. Journ. Trop. Diseases and Prev. Med., ii. (1914) pp. 185-90. 



\ Journ. Path, and Bact,, xix. (1914) pp. 239-44. 



§ Journ. Infect. Diseases, xv. (1914) pp. 347-9. 



