92 HISTORY AND CAUSE OF THE COCONUT BUD-EOT. 



Hisses tubes. 



April 14, 1910, at 22° C. One day: All the tubes, both Bacillus coli aud the coconut, 

 show abundant gas bubbles which are well distributed (hroughoiil the medium. 

 Two days: Same. 



March 18, 1910, at 37° C. One day: In all the tubes the medium is clouded through- 

 out, and many gas bubbles are scattered throughout. 



In these tubes, as on the Stoddart plates, Bacillus coli and the 

 coconut organism behaved ahke and showed active motihty. 



GROWTH IN STERILE MILK. 



Cultures of the coconut organism grown in sterile milk at room 

 temperature coagulated the milk in from three to four days. It 

 became a soHd homogeneous mass and little or no whey was extruded. 

 No subsequent digestion of the curd took place. Incubated at 37° C, 

 the organism usually caused coagulation in two or three days; but 

 some variability was shown. 



OROWTH IN LITMUS MILK. 



Cultures grown in htmus milk (lavender blue) usually changed the 

 color of the medium witliin 24 hours to a dark lavender red, and 

 within 48 hours it became lighter. At the end of two or tlu-ee weeks 

 the lower part of the culture became bleached. The milk itself 

 gradually coagulated, as in the case of the sterile milk cultures, and 

 usually no whey was extruded. (For further discussion of growth 

 in plain and litmus milk see pp. 94-96.) 



Products of Growth of the Organism, 

 production of indol and phenol. 



Cultures of the coconut organism were made in Dunham's solution, 

 which quickly clouded. After six days sulphuric acid was added, 

 wliich, even after standing, failed to show any reaction. The addition 

 of sodium nitrite to this, however, turned all of the tubes strongly pink 

 in color, showing the presence of indol. This experiment was repeated 

 with cultures of eight days' growth and a light pink resulted from 

 the test. A repetition of this experiment, using a five daj^s' growth 

 and comparing with Bacillus coli, gave a light pink identical in each 

 case. It is eAadent that this organism develops indol much the same 

 as Bacillus coli, but whether in the end it develops as much is uncer- 

 tain. 



Cultures of the coconut organism, together with four strains of 

 Bacillus coli, were grown in Dunham's solution. The tubes were 

 incubated at 37° C. and tested at the end of 10 days. The results 

 showed that all four of the Bacillus coli strains produced an equal 

 amount of indol, and that each of the coconut organisms produced 



228 



