576 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



of JB. gangrsense pulpx. To steam they were more resistant than 

 anthrax spores, retaining their vitality for 20-25 minutes. An immer- 

 sion in 1 per thousand sublimate solution for 24 hours had no effect on 

 their vitality, and in 1 p.c. sublimate they were alive after one hour, 

 while a 3 p.c. solution took half an hour to kill them. In strong hydro- 

 chloric acid they were killed in about one minute. 



Branched Filaments in Diphtheria Cultures.* — Ar. Cache describes 

 and depicts the appearances observed in old diphtheria cultures. The 

 growth was taken from a culture in Ouchinsky's medium, made some 

 months previously, was of a yellowish-white colour, and was formed on 

 the surface of the liquid. Microscopical examination showed that the 

 membrane consisted of branched and interlacing filaments, containing 

 highly refracting granules. The morphological alterations were accom- 

 panied by modifications in the physiological characters. Thus the 

 filtrate of the cultures was but feebly toxic, and gelatin was slightly 

 liquefied. It did not stain by Gram's method. 



Destruction of Tubercle Bacilli in Oil. f — A. Gottstein and H. 

 Michaelis conclude from their experiments that heating oil containing 

 tubercle bacilli for five minutes at 87° (J. is sufficient to sterilise it. 



Microbe of the Diarrhoea of Young Calves4 — Lesage and Delmer 

 describe a coccobacillus which they have found to be the infective agent 

 of the diarrhoea of young calves known in Ireland as " white scour." 

 It is a motionless polymorphic bacterium. It is aerobic, and is not 

 easily cultivated in vacuo. It does not pass through filter F. It is 

 easily stained, but not by Gram's method. It grows well on agar and 

 on gelatin ; the latter medium is not liquefied. Peptonised bouillon 

 becomes turbid in 24 hours at 38°, and a characteristic odour, which 

 passes off in 3-1 days, is exhaled. The reaction is alkaline. It does 

 not grow on potato. It does not produce indol, and has no action on 

 sugars. Milk is not changed. The virulence of the cultures kept in 

 closed tubes is retained for a long time. Injected into rabbits it pro- 

 duces septicaemia with diarrhoea. It appears to gain access through the 

 umbilical vein in young animals, and through the nasal passages in 

 older ones. The organism belongs to the group designated by Lignieres 

 Pasteurella. 



Rat Plague. § — Dr. A. Edington was called to investigate the cause 

 of the great mortality among rats in South African seaports in the 

 early part of this year, the suspicion being that they were dying of 

 bubonic plague. In a preliminary communication the author records 

 experiments showing that there is a disease of the rat communicable to 

 guinea-pigs but not to rabbits, and to which rabbits are also refractory 

 even after it has been passed through the guinea-pig ; and since inocula- 

 tion of the rabbit with this rat bacterium in its virulent form gives no 

 protection against subsequent inoculation with bubonic plague, it seems 

 •clear that the rat plague cannot be bubonic plague. Moreover the 



• Centralbl. Bakt, l te Abt., xxix. (1901) pp. 975-80 (3 figs.), 



f Deutsch. Med. Wochonschr., xxvii. (1901) pp. 102-3. 



X Ann. Inst. Pasteur, xv. (1901) pp. 417-39. 



§ Lancet, 1901, i. pp. 159-3 (4 figs.) ; and ii. pp. 287-8. 



