252 NATURE OF ANTIBIOTIC ACTION 



TABLE 41. INFLUENCE OF CULTURE FILTRATE OF STREPTOMYCES SP. ON 

 MORPHOLOGY OF BACILLUS MYCOIDES 



From Borodulina (76). 



X indicates growth of B. mycoides in the shape of fluffy small balls inside liquid. 



cillin. Before lysis, the culture becomes more turbid, thus pointing to 

 the fact that multiplication is essential before death or lysis of the cells. 



The phenomena of swelling and lysis were said (86i) to be associ- 

 ated with the active growth of the bacterial cell. Suspensions of fully 

 grown bacterial cells showed neither of these effects when added to con- 

 centrations of penicillin many times higher. It was suggested that peni- 

 cillin either has some action on the cellular wall of S. aureus or that it 

 interferes with the assimilation of one or more growth factors necessary 

 for the fission of the growing cell. 



In a study of the effect of penicillin on bacterial spores, Gardner 

 (312) observed that the spores gradually lose their high refractivity 

 and become empty ghosts. Weaker concentrations of penicillin allow 

 the germination of the spores to occur, the spores swelling up and be- 



