318 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RF.SEAUCHES RELATING TO 



in a mixture of gelatin and turnip decoction. The gelatin was liquefied. 

 The disease also affects to some extent yellow turnips and cabbages, but 

 not kohl-rabi or mangolds. The disease appears to be the same as the 

 white-rot described by Potter. 



Bacillus carotovorus sp. n.* — Prof. L. K. Jones describes a new 

 bacterium, Bacillus carotovorus, the cause of a soft-rot in carrots. Micro- 

 scopical examination of the diseased tissues shows the presence of the 

 organism in the intercellular spaces. The disease was easily reproduced 

 by inoculating the plants (after wounding the epiderm) with cultures. 

 The organism is a bacillus with rounded ends, 0*6-9 -9 /a broad, and 

 1-5-3 /x. long. It occurs singly, in chains, and in filaments. It is easily 

 stained, and also by Gram's method. It is motile, and the flagella are 

 from 2 to 5 in number. It was cultivated with success on numerous 

 media (animal, vegetable, and inorganic), both liquid and solid. Gelatin 

 was rapidly liquefied. Its optimum temperature is 27 c> -30 o . It is a 

 potential anaerobe. It forms acid in carbohydrate media ; bleaches 

 litmus milk, but not methylen-blue-pepton solution, except in an atmo- 

 sphere of carbonic acid. It produces indol in pepton solution and also 

 in meat broth. It is very sensitive to direct sunlight and drying. In 

 carbohydrate media a moderate amount of gas is produced. It is advised 

 that infected soil should be sown with seed crops (wheat, beans, &c.) for 

 some years, and treated with appropriate manures. The roots should be 

 well dried, and exposed to sunlight before storing, when they should be 

 kept in a cold place. 



Pigment of Bacillus polychromogenes. f — E. M. Chamot and G. 

 Thiry express the opinion that all the different colours produced by 

 Bacillus polycliromogenes are simple derivatives of one and the same sub- 

 stance, that is to say, the organism does not produce different pigments 

 in different media, as has been stated of this and many other chromogens. 

 The greens cannot be chlorophyll, nor can the blues be cyauins. The 

 pigment most closely resembles the colouring matters which have been 

 isolated from lichens and from fungi. 



New Bacterium found in Yellow Fever.} — H. E. Durham and W. 

 Myers have found a fine small bacillus in fatal cases of yellow fever. It 

 is about the diameter of the influenza bacillus, and about 4 /a long. The 

 microbe was detected in the glands and in the contents of the large 

 intestine. It is stained and cultivated with difficulty. The most 

 successful reagent was carbol-fuchsin, diluted with 5 p.c. phenol, which 

 was required to act for 12-18 hours. The preparations were then dif- 

 ferentiated with weak acetic acid. Some pure cultures were obtained 

 by placing mesenteric glands in broth under pure hydrogen atmosphere. 

 The authors failed to find evidence of parasitic protozoa, and negative 

 the mosquito infection theory. They express the opinion that the evi- 

 dence in favour of this fine small bacillus is stronger than any that have 

 yet been adduced for any other yellow fever germ. 



Production of Acetylmethylcarbinol by Bacillus tartaricus.§ — 

 L. Grimbert announces that among the fermentation products of Bacillus 



* Centralbl. Bakt., 2" Abt., vii. (1901) pp. 12-21, 61-8. 



t Hot. Gazette, xxx. (1900) pp. 378-93. 



j Brit. Med. Joum., 1901, i. pp. 450-1. 



§ Comptes Kentlus, exxxii. (1901) pp. 706-9. Of. this Journal, 189S, p. 577. 



