502 SUMMARY OF QUERENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Bacteriological Enzymes as Cause of Immunity.* — Herren E. 

 Emmerich and 0. Low state that the enzymes secreted by various 

 bacteria unite with the proteids of blood or of organs ; the compounds so 

 formed are termed " Immunproteidins " ; the proteid of the leucocytes 

 which unites with the enzyme of the pathogenic bacteria is termed 

 " Proteidin." The so-called agglutination is nothing but the first stage 

 of the effect of the enzyme. There are also bacterial enzymes which 

 are not only bactericidal but which also destroy toxins ; thus " pyocya- 

 nase," the enzyme of Bacillus pyocyaneus, destroys the deadly effect of 

 the diphtheria toxin. 



Fate of Pathogenic and other Infective Microbes in the Dead Animal 

 Body.f — Dr. E. Klein states that direct experiment lends no confirmation 

 to the belief that the microbes of infectious diseases retain their vitality 

 and virulence for indefinite periods within dead and buried bodies. His 

 researches show that, as far as guinea-pigs are concerned, the vitality and 

 infective power of the microbes used pass away in a comparatively short 

 time, in most cases within a month, whether the tody be placed in a 

 coffin or buried in earth or sand merely wrapped in a piece of fabric. 

 The bacteria used were B. prodigiosus, Staph, pyogenes aureus, Vibrio 

 cltolerse, B. typhosus, B. diphtherise, B.pestis, B. tuberculosis, B. enteritidis 

 sporogenes. The morphological and biological characters of B. cadaceris 

 sporogenes are described, but require no further notice, as they have been 

 already alluded to. J The author mentions an interesting observation in 

 connection with Pioteus vulgaris. No trace of this microbe could be 

 found in guinea-pigs buried three, four, or five weeks, but in guinea-pigs 

 dead of plague and exhumed twenty-eight days after death, Proteus 

 vulgaris was easily detected in the usual way, viz. by injecting fresh 

 guinea-pigs with emulsions from the spleen. Further experiments made 

 with broth cultures on guinea-pigs and mice confirmed the foregoing 

 result. In these last experiments it was found that the guinea-pigs died 

 from local disease and general intoxication, and the mice from septi- 

 caemia, that is to say, the blood of the mice contained Proteus, while that 

 of the guinea-pig did not. 



Growth of Typhoid Bacilli in Soil, with Description of Four Soil 

 Bacteria.§ — In his third report on the growth of the typhoid bacillus 

 in soil, Dr. S. Martin remarks that the contrast between the results 

 obtained by a study of the growths of this bacillus in sterilised and un- 

 sterilised earth is marked. In sterilised soil the bacillus was found to 

 live and grow for long periods; while in unsterilised soil it was only 

 recovered once, and that not later than twenty-four hours after the addi- 

 tion. It follows therefore that the bacteria naturally present in the soil 

 are inimical to the typhoid bacillus. The report also deals with the 

 effect of each individual bacterium of the soil on the typhoid bacillus 

 when the two micro-organisms were inoculated : — (1) into a liquid medium 

 in which they could both grow ; and (2) into the sterilised soil from which 

 the soil bacterium had been obtained. 



The soil bacteria described are designated Chichester i., ii., iii., and v. 



* Zeitschr. f. Hygiene, xxxi. pp. 1-65. See Journ. Chem. Soc., Ixxvii. and 

 lxxviii. (1900), Abstr. ii. p. 159. 



t Rep. Med. Oft. Loc. Gov. Board, 1898-9, pp. 344-81 (32 figs.). 



t Cf. this Journal, 1899, p. 318. 



§ Rep. Med. Off. Loc. Gov Board, 1898-9, pp. 382-412. 



