1 



34G SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



soluble in water, 0*73 p.c. ; water-soluble substances, formed by tbe 

 ■complete saponification of tbe fatty substances, 25 ■ 761 p.c. 



Lactic Ferments in the Arts.*— Martinus Beyerinck describes tbe 

 ferments employed in the industrial production of lactic acid, as initiat- 

 ing a true catabolic process and not merely an enzymic action. The 

 best results are obtained with pure cultivations of the Lactobacillus 

 fermentum, which when grown at its optimum temperature of 41-42° 0. 

 (maximum being 50° C. and minimum 25° C.) and freely supplied with 

 air, gives lactic acid only and produces no volatile acids. The L. fer- 

 mentum, according to the author, can be transformed into the L. delbriichi, 

 by cultivating at a temperature above the optimum ; and the L. delbriichi 

 if grown aerobically at the ordinary temperature becomes the L. fer- 

 mentum. 



Presence of a Parasite in the Blood of Epileptics.f— M. Bra, as 

 the result of the examination of fresh specimens from 70 patients 

 suffering from epilepsy, states that a feebly staining motile coccus, 

 occurring singly, in pairs, or in chains of six to eight individuals, is 

 -constantly present in the blood during the attack and immediately after 

 it, but is absent during the interparoxysmal stage. 



With the assistance of M. Chausse, the coccus was isolated 80 times 

 out of a total of 100 attempts, by receiving the blood into tubes of 

 bouillon and incubating at 34° C. for 48 hours. The coccus thus iso- 

 lated measured from 0'6 /x. to 1 fx ; in cultivations it grew as a strepto- 

 coccus, forming flocculi in bouillon, produced acid, did not liquefy 

 gelatin, and gave an "invisible" growth on potato, &o. It stained 

 better with acid than with basic anilin dyes, and was decolorised by 

 Oram's method. 



Injected intravenously into the rabbit, it gave rise to appearances 

 similar to those noted in the blood of the epileptics. 



Streptococcus Hsemolysin.t — Dr- Besredka, in endeavouring to 

 isolate the hemolysin of the streptococcus, first grew the organism in 

 Marmorek's ascitic-broth at 37° 0. for 24 hours, and then filtered the 

 cultivation through a porcelain filter, but the filtrate proved to be desti- 

 tute of hemolytic powers. Experiments with cultivations in other 

 media gave similar negative results. 



Further experiments, however, using as a medium serum from the 

 rabbit, man, or the sheep (arranged in the order of value), previously 

 heated to 55° C. for half-an-hour, gave highly satisfactory results. 

 Such media were inoculated with a streptococcus taken direct at the 

 autopsy from a rabbit whose blood was haernolysed; a few drops of 

 normal defibrinated blood were added to the culture, which was then 

 incubated at 37° C. for about 18 hours. Before filtration the cultivation 

 was diluted with an equal bulk of physiological salt solution, and it 

 was noted that when the cultivation passed rapidly through the filter 

 the hemolytic value of the filtrate was high, and vice versa. It was 

 also observed that if about 25 p.c. rabbits' serum was added to sheep, ox, 



* Archiv. Neer. Sci. Exact. Nat., vi. (1901) pp. 212-43. See Journ. Chem. Soc, 

 1902, Abstr. ii p. 97. t Comptes Rend., cxxxiv. (1902) pp. 50-2. 



% Ann. Inst. Pasteur, xv. (1901) pp. 880-93. 



