Sill SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Foot-and-mouth Disease.* — L. v. Betegh describes very minute 

 corpuscles which he has obtained from vesicles, uncontaminated by 

 bacteria, of foot-and-mouth disease. They are found in the serum and 



in the nuclei of the neutrophil leucocytes. They vary from 0-^5-1 /*, 

 and consist of a central stainable portion and a non-staining peripheral 

 investment. He considers these corpuscles to be the specific cause of the 



disease. 



Diplococcus gadidarum, the cause of the Reddening of Cod and 

 other allied Fish.f — T. D. Beckwith describes an organism which 

 he thinks causes the pinking of cod and allied fish, during the 

 various stages of preparation for market purposes. This bacterium, 

 named Diplococcus gadidarum, is from ■ 4>0 • 5 //. in diameter, but after 

 prolonged cultivation may attain to 1 fx. Somewhat like Gonococcus in 

 shape, it is easily distinguished therefrom by its easy cultivabiiity, and 

 by being Gram-positive. It forms a salmon-coloured pigment, and is 

 strictly aerobic. It is remarkably halophilic, growing luxuriantly when 

 5 to 10 p.c. of salt is added to the medium. Sterilized fish inoculated 

 with pure cultures of D. gadidarum turned pink. 



Bacillus coli and Plant-diseases. $ — In an article entitled, "Is 

 Bacillus coli a Plant Parasite ? " J. R. Johnston records observations and 

 experiments which tend to show that B. coli gives rise to disease in 

 plants. An organism morphologically and culturally identical with B. coli 

 was isolated from cocoa-nut trees affected with bud-rot. B. coli of 

 animal origin, when inoculated on healthy plants, produced similar 

 results. Hence this organism would appear to have greater pathological 

 importance than has hitherto been suspected. 



Bacillus pappulus. — F. de Gaspari isolated this anaerobic organism 

 from decomposing sausages. In young cultures the organism is about 

 the same size as B. perfringens, 4-9 /x, but after a week or more it 

 becomes longer and thinner. It is easily stained, but not by Gram's 

 method nor by iodine. It is an essential anaerobe, forms spores, produce i 

 "gas and acid, the cultures exhaling an odour like that of rancid butter. 

 On solid media the cultures have some resemblance to those of anthrax. 

 It attacks albumen freely, ferments sugars, ccagulates milk, forms indol, 

 but is not pathogenic to laboratory animals. The place of this organism 

 lies between the bacillus of Ghon and Sachs and B. radiiformis of Risl 

 and Guillemot. 



Scarlet-fever Virus. § — Bernhardt gives an account of his experi- 

 ments on the transmission of scarlet fever to monkeys. Scrapings from 

 the tongue of a patient suffering from this disease were rubbed into an 

 abraded area of mucous membrane in the mouth of a monkey. Four 

 days later, when the animal was dying of general septicemia, the 

 inguinal glands were excised and a second monkey inoculated. At the 

 third inoculation — that is, after passage through two monkeys — a 



* Centralbl. Bakt., lte Abt. Orig., lx. (1911) pp. 86-90 (2 pis.). 



t Centralbl. Bakt., lte Abt. Orig., 1X . (1911) pp. 351-4. 



X Depart. Agric, U.S.A., Pbytopatbology, i. No. 3(1911). j 



§ Centrabl. Bakt., lte Abt. Ref., 1. (1911) Beib., pp. 27-30. 



