ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 359 



Schizophyta. 

 Schizomycetes. 



Bactridium lipolyticum : Fat-splitting Bacterium.* — H. Huss 

 examined some unpleasant-tasting milk obtained from " Montavoner " 

 cows. The samples were treated in two portions, that were allowed to 

 stand on ice and at room temperature respectively for two days. In the 

 first case the sample was not curdled, and had a sweet, rancid taste ; but 

 the other portion was curdled, and had a sour, rancid taste, and smelt of 

 butyric acid. In both cocci were found microscopically, either singly 

 or in pairs, but in the second portion there was an abundance of 

 B. giintheri. On agar and gelatin plates prepared from both portions 

 there were obtained colonies of Pseudomonas coli, B. cerogenes, yeasts, 

 Pemcillium, B. giintheri, and gelatin-liquefying rods of Bactridium 

 lipolyticum,. Pasteurised cream was inoculated with these various 

 organisms, but the B. lipolyticum alone produced the peculiar rancid 

 taste of the affected milk sample. 



B. lipolyticum, which produces the fat-splitting enzyme, is a small 

 coccal-shaped rod with peritrichal flagella. The coccal shape is espe- 

 cially marked with gelatin cultures, and streptococcal-like chains are 

 formed, the gelatin being rapidly liquefied. The rods show active 

 motility ; they stain well with carbol-f uchsin, and also by Gram's method ; 

 growth is not good in an atmosphere of nitrogen ; optimum temperature 

 is from 30° to 35° C. 



Broth is clouded, and shows a sandy deposit ; milk is curdled after 

 three days, the upper layers being peptonised and of a brown-grey colour, 

 the medium having a strong alkaline reaction ; at the end of three weeks 

 the casein is completely dissolved, and the liquid becomes viscid, of a 

 dirty yellow colour, and smelling of nuts ; there is gas production in 

 all cultures, also a slight formation of indol, and reduction of nitrates 

 to nitrites. 



Glycerin, mannite, dextrose, saccharose, raffinose, and xylose are 

 fermented with the production of acid, but lactose is unaffected. The 

 fat-splitting property was demonstrated by employing the diffusion 

 method of Eijkman. 



Intestinal Flora of Infants. - ]" — H. Tissier finds that the intestinal 

 flora of infants from one to five years of age changes as the diet becomes 

 more varied. There is a " fundamental flora " (B. bifidus, enterococcus, 

 B. coli, B. acidophilus, B. exilis, and B. Hi of Rodella) which has survived 

 from the suckling period, and which is fixed and constant and of 

 physiological importance, and an "additional flora" of variable com- 

 position which is responsible for pathological effects. The author 

 advocates a diet that will maintain a preponderance of the " fundamental 

 flora " ; a vegetable diet favours the growth of B. bifidus in the lower 

 portion of the large bowel, where by virtue of its acid-producing pro- 

 perty it will excite peristaltic action and evacuation of the bowel content, 



* Centralbl. Bakt., 2te Abt. xx. (1908) p. 474. 

 t Ann. Inst. Pasteur, xxii. (1908) p. 189. 



