ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 99 



Schizophyta. 

 Schizomycetes. 



Uric Acid Bacterium.* — C. Ulpiani gives the results of his work 

 on a micro-organism capable of causing the following change in uric 

 acid : 



C 5 H 4 N 4 3 + H 2 + 30 = 2C0<? JJ2+3CO 



'2 



It was isolated from the fresh excrement of the fowl, by means of 

 inoculations first in tubes containing a solution of uric acid, then by 

 agar plates. Pure cultures are capable of completely fermenting a 

 solution of uric acid in three to four days, at 37° C. It is a motile 

 coccus furnished with a capsule. Involution forms are common. It is 

 positive to Gram aDd stains well with fuchsin. 



Cultivated on plates of agar with uric acid, it develops in three 

 days round superficial yellowish white colonies 1-1*5 mm. in diameter. 

 In both it causes turbidity and the formation of a surface pellicle. In 

 a solution of uric acid and traces of salts it produces opalescence. It 

 grows well between 29° C. and 42° C, and best at 39° C. An hour at 

 50° C. stops further development. 



Bacterial Origin of the Forms of the Arabin Group. | — R. Greig 

 Smith, working at this subject, first investigated the acids produced 

 during the growth of Bad. acacia and Bad. mdarabinum in saccharose 

 media. He used saccharose with asparagin as a nitrogenous nutrient, 

 and found that the action of the two organisms is identical and consists 

 in the formation of laevolactic, succinic, lauric, and oxalic acids (non- 

 volatile), and of acetic, formic, and carbonic acids (volatile). The 

 author found that the gum-flux of the vine is caused by Bad. acacia 

 and Bad. metarabinum ; that the gum-flux of the plum is due in part 

 at least to the action of Bad. acacia, ; that the gum-flux of the cedar is 

 caused by Bad. acacia and Bad. persica ; and that the gam-flux of the 

 peach is produced chiefly by Bad. acacia, as is also the gum-flux of the 

 almond. He also shows that the gum-flux of a Japanese date-palm is 

 dependent on Bad. levaniformans and Bad. acacia. 



Streptothrix in a Dog.| — Trolldenier found, in a dog dead after 

 a short illness, caseous and suppurative bronchial lymphadenitis and 

 other lesions. In the suppurating bronchial glands were detected a 

 great number of longer or shorter threads with distinct bifurcation, 

 staining intensely red by the Ziehl-Cabbot method. Glycerin plates 

 inoculated with the same material showed after 24 hours numerous 

 white grains, which were found microscopically to be formed of a 

 Streptothrix species The author concludes that the infection occurred 

 by the inhalation of the fungi into the lung alvioli, so to the bronchial 

 glands, and thence through the lymph channels into the vascular system. 

 He established the virulence of the organism in mice, guinea-pigs, 



* 



Atti R. Accad. Lincei, xii. (1903) pp. 236-40. 

 t Proc. Linn. So-. N.S.W., xxviii. (1903) pp. 114-31. 



% Zeitsdir. f. Tissand, vii. p. 81. See also Centralbl. Bakt. 1" Abt. (Ref.) xxxiv. 

 (1903) pp. 124-5. 



H 2 



