2IO ANAEROBIOSIS 



Rosenthal shortly claimed to have repeated them with the Vibrion septique and sug- 

 gested the use of such attenuated cultures of aerobized anaerobes in immunization 

 under the name "allobi- vaccination." 



Rosenthal also undertook the progressive anaerobization of B. anthracis, and 

 claimed to have accomplished this by the use of deep tubes of media, milk covered 

 with cream, media sealed under lanolin, and the use of decreasing air pressures. The 

 number of required transfers varied with the germ, with the rapidity of multiplication, 

 and with the size of inoculum. But since B. anthracis is well known to be a facultative 

 anaerobe, these experiments lacked conclusiveness, and since Rosenthal's main in- 

 terest lay in the original problem of aerobizing the anaerobes, he next studied the use of 

 decreasing depths of gelatin as formerly of milk, and of tubes of decreasing diameter. 



In 1907 he reported results with the tetanus bacillus finally analogous to those al- 

 ready obtained with other anaerobes, but more irregular. In contrast to Ferran, he 

 noted an early appearance of involution forms and loss of sporulation and motility. 

 All three steps of aerobization, he says, were accomplished. The bacilli were found 

 to be shorter, thicker, and less motile than the anaerobic forms. They were gram 

 positive and non-sporulating. Bouillon cultures during the first step of aerobization 

 produced tetanus in animals. The first stage of aerobization continued through five 

 to six generations on slanted agar, and the loss of morphological characters preceded 

 that of biochemical activities and toxicity. The beginning of the second stage was 

 announced in the tardy liquefaction of gelatin and the third by the complete and ap- 

 parently permanent loss of tryptic activity, sporulation, motility, and toxicity. The 

 last vestige of the parentage of the aerobized tetanus bacillus, as well as of the Vibrion 

 septique, to disappear was the property of specific serum agglutinability. This Rosen- 

 thal considered irrefutable proof of the exactness of his researches upon the aerobiza- 

 tion of the anaerobes. 



Having created several strains of artificial aerobic micro-organisms from various 

 obligate anaerobes, which he called collectively "bacillogenes," specifically "aerovib- 

 rion," "aero-bacille de tetanos," etc., Rosenthal next claimed (1907) that a reversal of 

 the process restored the "aero-bacilli" of Achalme and of tetanus wholly to their origi- 

 nal state of obligate anaerobes, including their lost chemical functions and power of 

 sporulation. 



As a fourth step in the aerobization of the anaerobes Rosenthal (1908) claimed 

 the transformation of the aerobized Vibrion septique at the limit of its viability into 

 an organism resembling the entero-coccus, which he found could be reversed again 

 into a typical Vibrion septique. 



These remarkable researches have been discussed at some length because they 

 are not widely known and because to my knowledge they have not been confirmed, 

 though confirmation seems most desirable if possible. The length of time, over five 

 years, consumed by Rosenthal in the pursuit of these experiments, together with the 

 logical progress of the results, suggests that a critical study of the problem would be 

 worth while. At least one observer, Szczawinska,' failed to corroborate Rosenthal's 

 findings and concluded that our present distinction between aerobes and anaerobes 

 is a valid one, and is based upon an essential physiological difference in metabolism. 



' Szczawinska, W.: ibid., 69, 15. 19 10. 



