688 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



aerobes, which have proteolytic functions. The morphological characters 

 of ten new species are described in full. These organisms have a very 

 wide distribution in nature. 



Sarcina Citrea conjunctivae.* - From the conjunctival sac of a 

 patient suffering from conjunctivitis Ph. Verderanie has isolated a 

 Gram-negative organism, to which he has given the above name. It 

 grows well upon the ordinary media, both at room temperature and at 

 37 C, and is a facultative anaerobe. Blood-serum is liquefied, but not 

 gelatin. Milk is not clotted. Neither flagella nor spores can be 

 demonstrated, and the organism is non-motile. Colonies upon most 

 media develop a lemon tint, which gives the Sarcina its specific name. 

 It must be distinguished from S. citrina, a Gram-positive organism, 

 which liquefies gelatin and clots milk. 



New Anaerobe in Typhoid Stools, f — By inoculating this material 

 into a fluid medium composed of a mixture of bile and broth, containing 

 a small cube of cooked white of egg, and after two or three days 

 planting some of the deposit from this medium in glucose-agar, J. Loris- 

 Melikov has obtained colonies of an anaerobic bacillus which has, in his 

 opinion, an important influence upon the course of the disease. The 

 colonies are small and transparent. The bacilli are non-motile, forming 

 ovoid spores, and retain the colour upon the application of Gram's 

 method. They are strict anaerobes, and grow well only at 37° C. 

 Inoculation experiments show that they have a specific effect upon the 

 lymphoid tissue of the intestines, causing swelling and ulceration of 

 the follicles and of Peyer's patches. They have not been found in the 

 stools of persons not suffering from typhoid. They are agglutinated 

 by typhoid serum in a dilution of 1 : 100. The author considers that 

 this organism has a necrosing action in typhoid fever, supplementing 

 the septicaemia caused by Eberth's bacillus. 



Pathogenicity of Bacillus chlororaphis.J — This organism, isolated 

 from certain spring-waters, has the property of producing a green 

 crystalline pigment upon cultures under special conditions. L. Mercier 

 and Ph. Lasseur have injected cultures of this bacillus into crayfish, 

 frogs, bream, and other fresh-water fishes, with fatal results iu the 

 majority of cases. Further experiments are still in progress, particularly 

 feeding experiments, and the evidence as to the pathogenicity of this 

 organism is not yet complete. 



Rat Plague in East Anglia.§ — In the autumn of 1910 it became 

 known that an extensive epizootic of plague was affecting the rodents in 

 a certain portion of Suffolk. The occurrence of a few human cases in 

 October called attention to the dangers of such an epizootic, and in the 

 beginning of 1911 systematic investigations were carried out with a 

 view to ascertaining the boundaries of the infected area. G. F. Petrie 

 and G. H. Macalister examined more than 6000 rats collected from a 



* Centralbl. Bakt., l»e Abt. Orig., lix. (1911) pp. 377-85. 



t C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxx. (1911) pp. 865-6. 



I C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxx. (1911) pp. 889-91. 



§ Rep. Local Gov. Board, n.s. No. 52 (1911) viii. and 87 pp. (2 maps). 



