100 SUMMARY OF CUEEENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



days, the reaction then becomes amphoteric for 2-3 days, after which it 

 is alkaline. 



Bacterium of Eclampsia.* — Dr. Levniovitsch has found a large round 

 or oval coccus in forty-four cases of puerperal convulsions. They were 

 sometimes found in the blood before the first fit ; were most abundant 

 during the convulsions ; and two days after the last attack steadily 

 diminished in numbers. The coccus was cultivated in broth, gelatin, and 

 agar, to which blood was added ; but the best growth took place on 

 media composed of placental tissue. The cocci are motile and flagel- 

 late. Pure cultures were pathogenic to guinea-pigs. 



Organisms of Bacillus coli communis Group isolated from Drinking 

 Water.f — Dr. J. Lunt gives a comparison of eight organisms belonging 

 to the coli group with the normal B. coli communis, and shows how each 

 variety differs from the normal in one or more of the characters supposed 

 to be diagnostic of B. coli communis. The eight varieties were derived 

 from potable water of fair quality, from polluted water, and from urine 

 of typhoid patients. The chief differences from the normal were that 

 variety A did not curdle milk. B did not curdle milk or form indol. 

 C did not curdle milk, did not form indol, and liquefied gelatin after 

 7-10 days. D was markedly motile, and did not form indol. E did not 

 form indol, and liquefied gelatin after 10-13 days. F liquefied gelatin 

 after 7-10 days, did not form indol, and curdled milk after 3-5 days. 

 G liquefied gelatin after 5-9 days, did not form indol, or curdle milk. 

 H was not motile, and gave a positive indol reaction. This form closely 

 resembled in other respects the bacillus of typhoid. 



Photobacterium liquefaciens Plymouthii $ — Mr. J. E. Barnard de- 

 scribes a photogenic bacterium isolated from deep sea-water outside 

 Plymouth breakwater. The organism, called Photobacterium liquefaciens 

 Plymouthii, liquefies gelatin more rapidly than any other known phos- 

 phorescent bacterium. The phosphorescence appears when the cultures 

 are about four days old, and successive transfers to media containing at 

 least 2 per cent, sodium chloride resulted in an increased power of phos- 

 phorescence. Gelatin is completely liquefied in four days at 20°. In 

 liquid media the organism grows well, but the phosphorescence is of 

 short duration ; it thrives on agar. Morphologically, it is a rodlet 2 /jl 

 long by 1*5 //, broad, when grown on ordinary gelatin ; on salted gelatin 

 it is longer. It is somewhat pleomorphic (i.e. coccus and filamentous 

 forms appear sometimes), and exhibits inconstant and involution forms. 

 It is motile, and is possessed of long flagella demonstrable only with 

 difficulty by van Ermengem's method. The light emitted is of a bluish- 

 white colour. The bacterium does not grow on potato, and spore- 

 formation was not observed. The author's communication is not 

 confined to this one organism, but deals generally with photogenic 

 bacteria, and is an admirable precis of the subject. 



Is the Alinit Bacterium an Independent Species ?.§ — Dr. E. 

 Hartleb is strongly of opinion that Bacillus ellenbachiensis a, the effec- 



* Centralbl. f. Gynak, 1899, No. 46. See Brit. Med. Journ., 1899, epit. 453. 

 t Trans. Jenner (late British) Inst. Prevent. Med., 1899, ser. ii. pp. 219-31. 

 j Tom. cit., pp. 81-112 (2 pis.) 

 § Centralbl. Bakt. u. Par., 2" Abt., v. (1899) pp. 706-12. 



