^74 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



cultivating spores on agar flagella were demonstrable in nine or ten hours. 

 The first flagella are short and thin as compared with those of older 

 cultures. The flagella were mordanted by Lceffler's method and stained 

 with fuchsin, but acid violet G B (1 grm. to 75 ccm. water and 75 ccm. 

 alcohol) gave excellent results. 



Physiology of Bacillus prodigiosus.* — Herr G. Bitter finds that 

 pepton alone is insufficient for the anaerobic development of Bacillus 

 prodigiosus, as it requires another source of carbon, such as grape-sugar, 

 cane-sugar, or maltose. Nor does B. prodigiosus excite fermentation, i.e. 

 it is unable to form gas in saccharated media. These results are contrary 

 to those of Liborius, which have been accepted for a long time. 



Bacteria in the Stomach of the Cat.f — Mr. J. Weiss isolated 

 numerous organisms, bacteria and fungi, from the stomach of the cat. 

 Though the number of animals operated on was limited, it is inferred 

 from the results (given in tables) that the presence of bacteria in the 

 stomach is more or less accidental, and seems to depend on their presence 

 in the mouth or in the food. It is, however, to be noted that most of 

 the bacteria produced acid and gas from saccharated media, and all had 

 the power of disintegrating complex organic materials used as food-stuffs. 

 In doing this they abstract from the medium substances which they 

 need for their subsistence, and add to it excrementitious matters, often 

 deleterious, the result of their metabolic activity. 



Bacillus Parasites in the Blood-corpuscles of Rana esculentaj — 

 M. A. Laveran describes, under the name of Bacillus Krusei, a bacillus 

 which is a parasite of the blood-corpuscles of the edible frog. Examina- 

 tion of the corpuscles discloses cavities, resembling vacuoles, filled with 

 fluid and containing bacilli. These bacilli are 3-4 /x long, are easily 

 stained, and are motile. Attempts to cultivate the bacteria failed. The 

 vacuoles did not exhibit movement of any kind, and they were not 

 affected by staining reagents. 



Avian Tuberculosis in Frogs.§ — MM. Auche and J. Hobbs obtained 

 quite negative results from inoculating the dorsal lymph-sac of frogs 

 with avian tubercle. Injections of the peritoneal sac were mostly nega- 

 tive, though in a few animals small granulations were observed after 

 inoculation with avian tubercle. Inoculation with human tubercle was 

 always followed by the appearance of large tuberculous granulations. 



Bacillus of Dysenteric Enteritis.|| — M. H. Boger isolated from 

 seven cases of endemic dysentery a large bacillus which was patho- 

 genic to animals. The morbid appearances were those of hemorrhagic 

 septicemia associated with dysenteric ulceration of the colon. The 

 microbe was easily cultivated on the ordinary media. It liquefied gelatin 

 and coagulated milk, the reaction being acid. In anaerobic it did not 

 grow so well as under aerobic conditions, but formed gas. The bacillus 

 is motile ; it somewhat resembles anthrax in general appearance; is easily 

 stained, but is decolorised by Gram's method. 



* Centralbl. Bakt. u. Par., 2" AM., vi. (1900) pp. 206-9. 



t Journ. App. Microscopy, ii. (1899) pp. 628-32; iii. (1900) pp. 675-8. 



t C.R. Soc. de Biol., ser. xi. i. (1899) pp. 355-8 (S figs.)- 



§ Tom. cit., p. 816. || Tom. cit., pp. 765-8. 



