724 SUMiMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RKLATING TO 



dissolved in pure filtered Xorth Sea water. After three days in a 

 thermostat at ;^)0^ C, in a large number of the tubes, typical Azotohacter 

 was developed, besides various small bacteria, spirilla, etc. 



Nitrogen Bacteria in Sea-water.* — P. Thomsen found nitrite 

 bacteria in all samples of sea-water taken from the surface of the sea 

 bottom. The presence of nitrate bacteria seems to depend on the 

 proximity to land at which the sample is taken, since samples of slime- 

 taken from a greater distance from land, when added to nitrite nutrient 

 solution, gave negative results, but in cultures from samples taken at 

 distances nearer to land chanffes from nitrite to nitrate had occurred. 



'&^ 



Pseudo-tuberculosis in Frogs. t — L. Yincenzi describes a short, 

 non-motile, non-sporulating, potential anaerobic bacillus ; surface 

 colonies on gelatin resemble those of B. coll, and on solid media at room 

 temperature the colonies have a strong odour of garlic. The author has 

 named the organism " BaciUo ojmU agliaceo.'''' Pathologically it re- 

 sembles Pfeiffer's bacillus, but its action is more virulent. Frogs were 

 injected subcutaneously and also intraperitoneally, and after varying 

 intervals the animals died, the postmortem appearances presenting' 

 pseudo-tuberculous deposits in the liver, spleen, and in some cases also 

 in the kidney, from which the organism was re-obtained in pure culture. 



Coccus anomalus and " Vins Bleus." % — E. Manceau, referring to- 

 the paper of Maze and Pacottet who find that " le bleu " is due always to 

 one microbe, which they named " Coccus anomalus,'" insists that there is 

 not one " maladie du bleu," but several due to various causes, viz., 

 chemical precipitation from cold, the filling up of a bottle with a wine 

 of a higher alcoholic value, and sometimes from microbial causes, there 

 being many kinds of microbes simultaneously present. The author 

 often met with wines affected with this disease when studying the 

 development of grease ferments both in sparkling and non-sparkling 

 champagnes. The author has isolated from " vins bleus " four microbes 

 — two kinds of cocci, a bacillus, and a sarcina — and he concludes that 

 the " bleu microbe " is not one but many microbes which are often 

 associated. 



Differentiation of Bacillus coli and Bacillus typhosus by their 

 action on Inosite. § — Gr. Meillere finds that in anaerobic cultures 

 neither B. coli nor B. fypJwsus have any action on inosite, but under 

 aerobic conditions, this alcohol is rapidly destroyed by B. typhosus 

 though not affected by B. coli. Organisms which readily attack inosite 

 under ordinary conditions do so no longer if the medium is deprived of 

 oxygen. The author gives details of the medium and the methods he 

 employs for arriving at his results. 



Specific Antibody for Micrococcus melitensis.|| — A. Sicra has 

 demonstrated the presence of a specific antibody in the serum of animals. 



* Ber. Deutsch. Bot. GeselL, xxv. (1907) p. 16. 



t Centralbl. Bakt., Ite Abt. Orig., xliv. (1907) p. 391. 



X Comptes Rendus, cxlv. (1907) p. 352. 



§ C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris, Ixii. (1907) p. 1096. |1 Tom. cit.,p. 1045. 



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