758 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



diplococci lose their virulence, they lose also their antiphagin, Imt after 

 passage through rabbits both virulence and antiphagin are regained. 

 The antiphagin retains its action after being heated for an hour ai 

 35-90° C, and after twenty minutes at 100° C. Antiphagin obtained 

 from diplococci that have been fortified by passage through rabbits, is 

 active against the leucocytes of both rabbits and dogs. 



The authors regard these antiphagins as antiopsonins, and suggest 

 that opsonins are anti-antiphagins. 



Microbes of Intestinal Putrefaction.* — E. Metchnikoff shows that 

 the filtrates of cultures of Bacillus putrificus, B. aerogones, and B. 

 sporogenes, are highly toxic, and argues that as these bacteria are 

 almost constant habitants of the alimentary canal, their toxins must 

 necessarily be harmful to the organism. He accentuates his position by 

 pointing out that these three putrefaction bacteria are not the only 

 microbes infesting the colon, and shows that cultivations made from 

 faecal matter produce even more lethal toxins than those already 

 enumerated. Experiments are being made under the direction of the 

 author to ascertain by what means the organism defends itself against 

 the morbid action of this intestinal flora. 



Bacterium isolated from the Nervous Centres of Rabid Animals. f 

 V. Busila has isolated from the nervous system and cerebro-spinal fluid 

 a bacterium which when inoculated on animals produces symptoms 

 of rabies. It is a motile sporogenous bacillus, Gram-positive, about the 

 size of Anthrax, and though growing at first with some difficulty is 

 afterwards easily cultivable on various media. It forms a thin scum on 

 broth, slowly liquefies gelatin, grows freely on slices of brain, and is 

 isolable only in inoculated animals before symptoms of rabies declare 

 themselves. It has been found once in human cerebrospinal fluid. 



In the nervous tissue of animals dead after injection of cultures of 

 the bacillus Negri's corpuscles are found in abundance, especially in the 

 cornu ammonis. 



The bacillus is agglutinated by antirabic serum in dilutions of 

 1 : 125 to 1 : 150. 



Animals immunised against rabies are resistant to this bacillus, 

 while all the controls succumbed. 



Chain-formation by Staphylococcus aureus.:}: — V. Babes claims 

 that his researches show that there is a close relationship and also inter- 

 mediate forms between Streptococcus and Staphylococcus. In fact the 

 tw 7 o species divide in the same way, i.e. by the formation of chains, but 

 which in Staphylococcus are often double. The staphylococcic form 

 arises partly from irregularity of division and partly from the presence 

 of capsules, which bind the microbes in irregular clumps. 



Bacillus pathogenic to Cats.§ — Z. Skrzynski describes a microbe 

 which caused an epidemic among cats. It belongs to the coli group, 



* Comptes Rendus, cxlvii. (1908) pp. 579-82. 

 t C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxv. (1908) pp. 269-70. 

 \ Tom. oit., pp. 265-7 (1 fig.). 

 § Ann. Inst. Pasteur, xxii. (1908) pp. 682-8. 



