204 ANAEROBIOSIS 



ground that aerobic micro-organisms of various kinds replace the oxygen with 

 carbon dioxide sufficiently to permit the symbiotic growth of the obligate anaerobes. 

 Pasteur's explanation was accepted by Roux' who utilized the hay bacillus in the cul- 

 tivation of Vibrion septique by overlaying the latter in deep agar or gelatin with broth 

 cultures of the former, and by Penzo^ who cultivated the "bacillus of malignant 

 oedema," symbiotically with Bad. prodigiosum and Bad. proteus in broth and em- 

 phasized the great pathogenicity of such cultures. Novy^ did the same thing with his 

 B. oedematis maligni II {B. novyi) and added Bad. acidi lactici and a coccus to the list 

 of successful symbionts. 



But Kedrowsky^ found that Clostridium hutyricum and B. tetani would grow in 

 chloroformed cultures of various aerobes and suggested the production of a reducing 

 agent or ferment by these as a more important means of oxygen reduction than that 

 proposed by Pasteur. Kedrowsky was unable to secure this theoretical substance free 

 from the bacterial bodies by Berkefeld filtration. 



Other investigators do not accept Kedrowsky's hypothesis. Thus Scholtz^ culti- 

 vated B. tetani, B. botulinus, "oedem bacillus," and "rauschbrand bacillus" symbioti- 

 cally with various living aerobes in broth and in the condensation water of agar slants, 

 but failed to secure any growth with chloroformed cultures of aerobes except when 

 large volumes were used, in which, as we now know, growth can be easily secured 

 without other means of anaerobiosis aside from boiling just previous to inoculation. 



Bienstock^ and Matzuschita' also failed to confirm the idea of a vital ferment, 

 and von Oettingen^ found himself at variance both with Pasteur and Kedrowsky be- 

 cause he was unable to secure anaerobic growth when aerobes were closed up with 

 anaerobes but not in actual contact, i.e., in "separated symbiosis," as he called it. But 

 von Oettingen's technique was probably faulty; perhaps his fantastic and complicat- 

 ed containers leaked, because separate growth of aerobes and anaerobes can be se- 

 cured in devices operating upon this principle, as, for example, those of Salomonson,' 

 Zinsser,'" Nichols and Schmitter," Nowak,/^ MacNeal and Kerr,'^ Smith and Fabyan'^ 

 Horton,'5 Giltner,'* Wherry and Oliver,'^ and Torrey,'Hhough it must be admitted that 



• Roux, F.: Ann. de Vlnsl. Pasleiir, i, 49. 1887. 



^Penzo, R.: Cenlralbl.f. Bakteriol, Abt. I, Orig., 10, 822. 1891. 



3 Novy, F. G.: ibid., 16, 566. 1894. 



■t Kedrowsky, W.: Ztschr.f. Ilyg., 20, 358. 1895. 



sSchoUz, W.: ibid., 27, 132. 1898. 



''Bienstock: /Ire/;./, ^yg., 36, 335. 1899. 



'Matzuschita, T.: loc. cil. 



^ von Oettingen, W.: Ztschr.f. Hyg. u. Infektionskrankh., 43, 463. 1903. 



'Salomonsen, C. J.: Bad. Technology. 1890. 

 '"Zinsser, H.: /. Exper. Med., 8, 542. 1906. 



" Nichols, J. H., and Schmitter, F.: J. Med. Research, 15, 113. 1906, 

 " Nowak, J.: Attn. del'Inst. Pasteur, 22, 541. 1908. 

 '3 MacNeal, W. J., and Kerr, J. E.: J. Infect. Dis., 7, 469. 1910. 

 "•Smith, T., and Fabyan, M.: Centralbl.f. Bakteriol., Abt. I, Orig., 61, 549. 1912. 

 ■sHorton, G. D.: /. Infect. Dis., 15, 22. 1914. "Wherry, W. B., and Oliver, VV. W.: loc.cit. 

 ''• Gillner, VV.: Science, 41, 663. 1915. '* Torrey, J. C: /. Bad., 2, 435. 191 7. 



