90 SUMMAKY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Babes-Ernst corpuscles were also found in Bacillus alvei and in a 

 species of Oidium. 



Spore-formation in Cholera Bacilli.* . Bliesener filled test-tubes- 



with 20 cm. of dirty ditch water, sterilised them, and then inoculated 

 with a loopful of cholera culture. 376 days after, when the tubes had 

 dried, in the reddish fiocculent deposit were found oval highly refracting 

 motionless shining corpuscles which could be stained like spores. From 

 the deposit the author cultivated on plates typical cholera bacilli. The 

 " cholera spores " were no more resistant to drying than cholera bacilli. 

 Eight hours after complete drying the power of developing had dis- 

 appeared. Suspended in water, they were dead in about half an hour at 

 50°. The cholera spores could retain their vitality for 878 days in wat^r. 

 The author suspects that these " cholera spores " represent the resting 

 forms which enable the cholera to hibernate, and then to break out in 

 places where it had apparently been extinguished. 



Bacteriosis of Kohlrabi. j" — L. Hecke describes a disease of kohlrabi 

 affecting the plants in Lower Austria. The chief effect of the disorder 

 was to deteriorate the quality, the plants being of good size. The 

 fleshy parts of the diseased specimens presented a marbled appearance, 

 produced by a bacterial mucus in which the organisms existed. The 

 parasite was found to be a rodlet of very variable size. On roeat- 

 extract-pepton-gelatin the young colonies were colourless spherules, 

 which later became yellow with liquefaction of the medium. The 

 microbe in cultures is a bacillus 0*9 to 1*6 //. long and 0*5 /a broad ; it- 

 exhibits lively movements, and possesses a single polar nagellum. It is 

 identical with, or closely allied to, the Pseudomonas campestris described 

 by Smith and Pammel. 



Ripening of Cream.J— H. W. Conn and W. M. Esten give the fol- 

 lowing general summary, drawn from a long series of experiments, as 

 to the actual bacterial development occurring on the normal ripening 

 of cheese. Milk, as it is drawn from the cow, contains great quantities 

 of bacteria, most of them being liquefying, and other non-acid species. 

 At the outset the number of acid bacteria is small. All the species in- 

 crease during the setting of the milk for the separation of the cream. 

 For a few hours the alkaline bacteria, and also some others, increase- 

 quite rapidly, while the lactic acid bacteria are hardly evident. After 

 about 12 hours the lactic bacteria are as numerous as the others ; they 

 reach their maximum in about 48 hours, after which they decrease, 

 and finally disappear. The ripened cream contains vast numbers of 

 bacteria, nearly all being lactic. After the first 12 hours all species 

 save two lactic bacteria decrease and disappear. These two species 

 increase regularly from the beginning of the experiments to the maxi- 

 mum ; one is always present, and during the ripening increases in 

 numbers, though not in proportion. The ripening which takes place 

 in the creamery is wholly, or almost wholly, due to the growth of lactic 



* Zeitschr. f. Hygiene u. Infektions., xxxvi. p. 71. See Bot. Ceutralbl., Ixxxviiu 

 (1901) p. 130. 



t Zeitschr. f. d. landwirthsch. Versuchswesen in Oesterreich, 1901, p. 469. See 

 Bot. Centralbl., lxxxvii. (1901) |»p. 150-1. 



% Centralbl. Bakt, 1" Abt., xxx. (1901) pp. 743-52, 769-75. 



