556 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1882. 



only be determined by long and careful observations on their action 

 under diflereut physiological and chemical conditions. 



Zopf studi-Hl the development of several filamentous forms of Schizo- 

 mycetes and 8cMzophyt(V, and in his work, Zur Morpholocjie der S2)alt- 

 pfltuizen, as well as in a preliminary communication in the Botauisches 

 Centralblatt, advances the view that forms commonly regarded as fila- 

 mentous may have a micrococcus, a bacterium, a leptothrix, a spiril- 

 lum, and in some cases even a spirochcete condition, and he gives full 

 accounts of the different transformations in Gladothrix, Grenothrix, and 

 several other genera. 



Dr. T. W. Engelmann has studied the relations of bacteria to light 

 and air, and comes to the conclusion that bacteria collect in heaps 

 where there is a development of oxygen, and he also describes in Pflii- 

 ger's Archiv a new species, Bacterium photometricum, found in the 

 Rhine, in which he studied the action of light, and found that it did 

 not act momentarily, but produced an after eifect, which he terms pho- 

 tokinetic induction. In the Centralblatt, Haberkorn has a paper on the 

 "Genesis, Morphology, and Properties of Pathogenic Bacteria," in which 

 he maintains the i)olymorphic nature of these organisms. The Bacteria is 

 the subject of a paper in the Eleventh Report Illinois Industrial Uni- 

 versity, by Prof. T. J. Burrill. It is a summary of the known species of 

 schizophytes, preceded by an introduction on the nature and effects of 

 bacteria. He gives full descriptions of Micrococcus amylonovus, pear 

 blight, Jf. toxicatus found in the poison dogwood, and M. insectorum 

 found in the digestive organs of chinch bugs. 



Two important papers relating to the action of species of Saccharomy- 

 ces in fermentation have appeared during the year. In the reports of the 

 Carlsberg Laboratory, Hansen gives an account of the organisms found 

 in the air at different seasons near Carlsberg, especially those which 

 can develop in beer wort. He found that Dematium pulhilans could 

 invert sugar to sbme extent, and states that Saccharomyces pastoriamis is 

 a dangerous organism in breweries on account of the rapidity with 

 which it produces alcoholic fermentation and the ease with which it 

 produces its endospores, while it gives a disagreeable, bitter taste to the 

 beer in which it is found. In Comptes Eenchis, Gayon has a report on 

 the action of some molds in alcoholic fermentation. Some, as several 

 species of Mucor, produce a fermentation in glucose, but are not able 

 to invert cane sugar, so that in substances like molasses they can be 

 used as a means of separating cane sugar from other sugars. Edward 

 Kern has discovered a new ferment, which he calls Diaspora caKcasica, 

 in a fermented liquor known as kephir, formed from milk in the Cau- 

 casus. Ferments et maladies, by E. Duclaux, is a good general statement 

 of the action of ferments of Saccharomycetes and Schizomycetes, both from 

 a chemical and pathological standpoint. 



