G38 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Bacillus foedans and Miscured Ham.* — E. Klein isolated from 

 softened and putrid hums an essential anaerobe, B.fanlmis. which is 

 Gram-positive and non-motile. The bacterium presents itself as short 

 or long rods (l'5-3'5 //.) and as filaments of considerable length (14 /*). 

 It is 0'4/x thick, may be straight or curved, the ends being mostly 

 rounded. The microbe was cultivated under anaerobic conditions in 

 glucose-gelatin, glucose-broth, and glucose-pork-broth, best at 20 C. 

 After about 8 weeks the gelatin was liquefied. There was gas production 

 with evolution of an offensive putrid smell. 



Micrococcus of Osteomalacia and Rickets. f — B. Morpurgo claims 

 to have isolated a diplococcus from the bones of white rats. It is 1 • 2 /x 

 in diameter, tends to form chains, and is Gram-positive. Gelatin is 

 slowly liquefied ; milk slowly coagulated ; it forms acid in broth, but 

 does not produce indol or nitrite. On agar it grows as a grey delicate 

 film or as small round colonies. When injected into adult animals it 

 induces osteomalacia ; into young rats, rickets. 



Diphtheroid bacillus found in Cardiac Vegetations.^— V. Babes 

 and D. Manolesco describe a new diphtheroid organism isolated from a 

 case of acute rheumatism. While it resembles morphologically and cul- 

 turally B. (liphtlierm Klebs-Loeffler, it is less sensitive to the composition 

 of cultivation media and to temperature. It is pathogenic to animals. 



Bacillus subtilis in the Blood and Tissues.§ — G. Ferrarini 

 describes a case of enlargement of the spleen and lymphatic glands 

 associated with the presence of B. subtilis in the glands and blood. 

 Microscopical examination of the glands revealed fibro-epithelioid 

 hypertrophy ; in places the structure resembled a perithelioma, in others 

 there were giant-cells, in some of which the Gram-positive bacillus could 

 be found. 



* Lancet (1908) i. pp. 1832-4 (3 figs.). 

 t Archiv Sci. Med. Turin, xxxi. (1907) p. 1. 

 X C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxv. (1908) pp. 93-5. 



§ Brit. Med. Journ. (1908) ii. epit 36. See also Siena : G, Bernardino, 1908, 

 146 pp., 32 figs. 



