90 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Identity of the Rogna Bacillus (tubercle) of the Olive-tree.*- 

 L. Petri obtained on peptone-glucose agar-plate cultures made from the 

 contents of a young olive tubercle an abundant production of yellow 

 colonies of Ascobacterium lutewn Babes ; cultures made from other 

 tubercles developed chiefly the sporing bacillus of Schiff-Giorgini ; but 

 in other cultures, besides these two organisms, were the colourless 

 colonies of a third organism, which soon assumed a milk-white colour, 

 and consisted of non-sporing rods corresponding to Smith's bacillus. 

 The author found that these three organisms are always simultaneously 

 present in the olive tubercles in varying proportions, and he compares 

 their morphological and cultural characters. From the results of many 

 inoculation experiments on healthy plants, the author found that only 

 pure cultures of Smith's bacillus caused positive infection, and he 

 considers that the positive results obtained by other workers with the 

 other two organisms were due to the use of impure cultures. 



Renal Infection by a Microbe originating from the Blood.j — 

 Jungano has isolated from a case of cystitis, besides many other 

 bacterial forms, a small anaerobic motile bacillus, : J >-4//, long by ■ 5/x, 

 with rounded ends, staining badly by aniline dyes, and not by Gram's 

 method, and having no capsule, and forming no spores ; in broth it 

 clouded the medium, but formed no deposit ; it grew well on agar, 

 forming small round yellow-coloured colonies ; it produced no gas ; it 

 grew on gelatin without causing liquefaction ; after 18 days at 22° C. it 

 formed typical stalactite cultures. It was not pathogenic to rabbits, 

 but produced subcutaneous abscesses in guinea-pigs. The author has 

 named the organism B. albarran. Owing to the peculiar conditions of 

 the case, the author considers that the renal infection originated from 

 the blood. 



Anaerobic Bacteria and Gall-stones.! — A. Gilbert and A. Lippmann 



report that by making anaerobic cultivations from the core of gall- 

 stones they have obtained evidence in 82 p.c. of the cases examined of 

 the presence of anaerobic bacteria, of which Bacillus fundi/liformis was 

 the most frequent. Aerobic control cultures only gave B. coli, or were 

 sterile. 



* Centralbl. Bakt., 2te Abt., xix. (1907) p. 531. 



t C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxiii. (1907) p. 302. J Tom. cit., pp. 405-7. 



