G38 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



which were found to consist of interlacing threads showing false branch- 

 ing and intertwined with connective-tissue fibres. In both cases secondary 

 infection with streptococci had occurred, masking the primary infection, 

 which, in the absence of the black nodules, would probably have been 

 overlooked. It was found impossible to obtain satisfactory cultures of 

 the Cladothrix, and animal inoculations also gave negative results. In 

 the second case, in which retro-bulbar suppuration proceeding to the 

 formation of a cerebral abcess had caused death, it was possible to de- 

 monstrate that the Cladothrix forming black masses was the primary 

 cause of the disease. 



Bacillus of Typhus Fever.* — During the epidemic of typhus in 

 Moscow in 1909, W. Predfcjetschensky examined blood drawn from the 

 veins of a large number of patients, and found a bacillus which he con- 

 sidered to be, in all probability, the causal organism of the disease. In 

 the first place he found the organism in examination of direct films. 

 The blood was oxalated and then lightly centrifugalized. The super- 

 natant fluid was decanted and again centrifugalized. Examination of 

 films prepared from this deposit were found to contain short stout 

 bipolar-staining bacilli. Control examination of blood from patients 

 suffering from other diseases showed no such forms. These bacilli were 

 most abundant between the sixth and the ninth day of the disease. 



By inoculating 200 c.cm. flasks of broth with 2 ■ 5 c.cm. of blood from 

 the veins of typhus patients, the author obtained, in the great majority 

 of cases, a pure culture of this bacillus. From broth, subcultures were 

 made upon nutrient agar and other media. Milk was clotted in three 

 or four days. Gelatin was not liquefied. The morphological characters 

 were as follows : a short stout Gram-negative bacillus, non-motile and 

 not possessing flagella. Involution forms, ovoid-bacilli and diplo-bacilli 

 in chains were often found. It has points of resemblance on the one 

 hand to Bacillus pest is, and on the other to B. mucosas capsulatus Fricke. 

 Agglutination experiments and animal inoculations provided further 

 evidence in support of the view that this is the specific organism of 

 typhus. 



Scientific Cheesemaking-.f — In continuation of his previous paper % 

 upon the subject, P. Maze deals first of all with the disorders with which 

 cheese may become affected. These may be due to improper develop- 

 ment of the organisms which normally participate in the maturation of 

 the cheese. The result is a lack of co-ordination between the various 

 ferments. In other cases, the mischief is due to the introduction of ex- 

 traneous organisms. In the acid stage, the Bacillus ladis aerogenes may 

 gain access and destroy the material. An active gas producer, this 

 organism may rapidly make the cheese into a swollen spongy mass. The 

 black fermentation, dreaded by dairymen, is caused by Penidllium 

 glaucum. After the reaction. of the clot has become alkaline, B. subtilis 

 and the organisms of putrefaction may make their appearance. Further, 



* Centralbl. Bakt., lte Abt. Orig., iv. (1910) pp. 212-18. 

 t Ann. Inst. Pasteur, xxiv. (1910) pp. 435-66. 

 X See this Journal, ante, p. 498. 



