656 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



XI. B. violaceus. 



1. Aerobic Culture: 



(a) Gas — None. 



(b) Growth — Grayish. 



2. Anaerobic Culture: 



(a) Gas — None. 



(b) No appearance of growth. 



It is a significant fact that a number of ordinary aerobes pro- 

 duces gas in peas, a phenomenon which in so far as can be determined 

 has been hitherto unobserved. This physiological action not only adds 

 one more definite characteristic to the identification of these known 

 cultures, but is suggestive that more care must be taken in the technic 

 employed in the determination of the presence of living organisms in 

 various types of substrata, that is, the media employed for their isola- 

 tion and cultivation must simulate closely the substratum in which the 

 organisms are living. Perhaps if Zavalla (32) and others had employed 

 the sterile fruit or vegetable respectively from swelled cans from which 

 the various organisms were isolated, gas production would have been 

 obtained. 



CHEMICAL ANALYSES OP CANNED PEAS INOCULATED WITH BACILLUS A. 



Since gas production by the organisms isolated was restricted to 

 peas it was considered desirable to prove if possible by chemical ana- 

 lysis that the gas was produced from the proteins of the peas. 



Number 2 cans of one brand of peas were used throughout tliese 

 experiments to make all results as nearly uniform as possible. A 

 number of cans was tested to determine sterility then inoculated with 

 Bacillus A. These cans began to swell in from one to two weeks after 

 inoculation. 



Two complete chemical analyses of cans so inoculated along with 

 checks were run. As time was limited, only gas analysis, titre and 

 pH values were carried out with the remaining cans. The contents 

 of the cans were weighed directly. For this reason the percentage 

 of total nitrogen would be proportionally loAver as more water was 

 present. The contents of the inoculated cans were examined carefully 

 for appearance of decomposition. The odor was almost normal and the 

 peas appeared no different from the uninoculated, but on mashing 

 they were found to be softer and more watery. The juice was more 

 cloudy and filtered rapidly, which is not true of normal canned peas 

 due to the cooked starch present. No red color was evident in any cans 

 although in inoculation transfers were made from a culture producing 

 a deep red color. The taste of the peas was that of overripe peas, i. e., 

 they lacked sweetness and had a somewhat flat taste. This was not 

 prominent, however. 



There are several points of note in connection with the results from 

 these analyses. In the gas analysis, the low percentage of oxygen in 

 each case suggests that in gas production an organism otherwise 

 aerobic may obtain oxygen for its own growth under nearly anaerobic 

 conditions. The increase of ammonia in both peas and juice, and the 



