ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 343 



enfeebled so far as concerned their capacity for growth at higher tem- 

 peratures and their colour production. 



Although the main results could be confirmed, Ruzicka found great 

 difficulty in repeating any particular experiment, even when the self- 

 same strain of bacillus was employed. 



Detection of Tubercle Bacilli in Milk.* — Sartori examined 255 

 samples of milk, obtained from different sources, for tubercle bacilli. 

 Microscopical examination demonstrated the presence of acid-fast bacilli 

 in 217 (85 p.c.) : of these 6 p.c. when inoculated into animals, gave rise 

 to tuberculous lesions. 



The other acid-fast bacilli, which Sartori considered identical with 

 the dung bacillus, are much more easily found in the centrifugalised 

 deposit than in the cream layer of the milk sample. He also mentions 

 the frequent occurrence of B. coli and Streptococcus in milk. 



He states that in his opinion the presence of tubercle bacilli in milk 

 samples can only be demonstrated conclusively by means of animal 

 inoculations. 



New Capsulated Bacillus.f — Dr. Fasching describes a bacillus 

 which he isolated from the nasal discharge of cases occurring during 

 the influenza epidemic at Graz during the winter months of 1889-90,. 

 and to which he gives the name of B. capsulatus mucosus. He describes 

 the bacillus as a short, thick, non-motile rod, a non-sporing facultative 

 anaerobe, staining well with the ordinary anilin dyes but not by Gram's 

 method, having an optimum temperature of from 18° to 30° C, a maxi- 

 mum of 35° C, and a minimum of 14° C. The growth in gelatin, stab 

 and streak, and upon agar appears identical with that of the Pneumo- 

 bacillus of Friedlander. Upon potato it forms an almost invisible 

 growth and produces no gas. In sugar-gelatin it produces gas and acid, 

 and in litmus-whey it produces first acid, but subsequently the reaction 

 becomes alkaline. 



The bacillus is pathogenic for mice, and when inoculated subcuta- 

 neously at the root of the tail causes death in 36 to 48 hours from a 

 general septicaemia. The bacillus, 3-4 //. long by 0*75-1 /a thick, being 

 beautifully capsulated, is easily demonstrated in the blood, where it 

 occurs singly, in pairs, or in short chains of about four elements, liver, 

 spleen, and other organs. 



The author differentiates it from the Pneumo-bacillus of Friedlander 

 by reason of its smaller size and the fact that it does not produce that 

 browning of the gelatin noticeable in old cultures of Friedlander's 

 bacillus. 



Micro-Organisms of Egyptian " Leben Raib." % — Eist and Khoury 

 describe the results of their examination of Egyptian " Leben," a 

 milk food of pleasant taste and peculiar odour, somewhat similar to 

 kephir. It is prepared by boiling milk, pouring it out into pans to cool, 

 and when the temperature has fallen to about 40° C. adding a small 

 quantity of the previous day's Leben preserved for the purpose, and 

 allowing it to stand for about six hours for fermentation to take place. 



* Ann. d'Igiene Sperim., x. (1900) p. 301. See Bot. Centralbl.. Ixxxviii. (1901) 

 p. 396. t Zeitachr. angew. Mikr., vii. (1902) pp. 281-94. 



% Ann. Inst. Pasteur, xvi. (1902) pp. 65-84. 



