504 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



anaerobically, forming much gas and exhaling an odour of stale glue. 

 Spores were formed on blood-serum. Guinea-pigs and pigeons were 

 killed 24-48 hours after inoculation, the coarse post mortem appearances 

 being an inflanimatory oedema, tumefaction, and crackling of cellular 

 tissues. 



Identity of Bacillus aerogenes lactis and Friedlaender's Pneumo- 

 bacillus.* — MM. L. Grimbert and C. Legros describe the morpho- 

 logical and biological characters of Bacillus aerogenes lactis and also its 

 action on carbohydrates. Four different cultures were used. The bacilli 

 are motionless ; they measure from 1 • 5 to 2 fx ; they do not stain by 

 Gram's method or form spores ; in the blood and pus of inoculated 

 animals they possess a capsule ; and they are potential anaerobes. They 

 are cultivable in the usual media ; do not liquefy gelatin ; do not pro- 

 duce indol ; coagulate milk. Nitrates are partially changed to nitrites. 

 Carbohydrates, except dulcite, are fermented with the production of 

 ethylic alcohol, acetic acid, lsevolactic acid, and succinic acid. The 

 foregoing characters are also those of Friedlaender's Pneumobacillus, and 

 hence the two bacilli are identical. The species, however, embraces a 

 number of varieties, but these varieties present a community of characters 

 sufficiently clear to unite them into a single group, the essential features 

 of which are : — (1) Absence of movement ; (2) presence of capsules in 

 the blood of inoculated animals ; (3) non-liquefaction of gelatin : (4) non- 

 production of indol; (5) energetic action on carbohydrates, the products 

 varying with the sugar used in the medium. 



Identity of Bacillus mucosus Ozaense with Pneumobacillus.f — Dr. 

 A. de Simoni, who has examined bacleriologically about 100 cases of 

 ozasna, has arrived at the conclusion that under the name of Bacillus 

 mucosus ozsense have been described varieties of one and the same 

 species. All these varieties may be collected into three principal groups, 

 which are connected by transition forms. The chief stem of all these 

 varieties is Friedlaender's Pneumobacillus, an ordinary inhabitant of the 

 mucosa of the naso-pharvnx. By the action of physical agents such as 

 heat, one variety may be converted into another, so that though at first 

 they appear to be quite different from one another, yet from the manner 

 of development on artificial media they are found to be identical. The 

 polymorphism of these bacilli depends on diverse factors, such as the 

 biochemical conditions of the morbid nasal mucosa, the adaptability to 

 these conditions, and the association with different kinds of bacteria. 



General Infection by Diplococcus intracellularis Weichselbaum.J 

 — Dr. N. B. Gwyn records the occurrence of Diplococcus intracellularis 

 in the blood and inflamed joints, as well as in the meningeal exudation, 

 of a case of cerebro-spinal fever. Post-mortem the meningococcus was 

 demonstrable only in the lesions of the brain and cord. This is the first 

 recorded instance in which general infection or septicemia has been 

 demonstrated in cerebro-spinal meningitis. 



Diplococcus reniformis.§ — M. J. Cottet has found a diplococcus of 

 reniform shape in abscesses connepted with the urinary passages. It 



* Comptes Rendus, cxxx. (1900) pp. 1424-5. 



\ Ceutralbl. Bakt. u. Par., 1" Abt., xxvii. (1900) pp. 426-36, 493-532 (2 pis. and 

 14 figs.). % Bull. Johns Hopkins Hosp., x. (1899) pp. 112-3. 



§ C.R. Soc. Biol., lii. (1900) pp. 421-3. 



