and Laboratory Methods. '2067 



CURRENT BACTERIOLOGICAL LITERATURE. 



H. W. CONN, Wesleyan University. 



Separates of Papers and Books on Bacteriology should be Sent for Review to H. W. Conn, 

 Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. 



Ernst. Ueber den Bau der Bakterien. Cent. The SO-called Babes-Ernst bodies in 

 ' * ' y "■ bacteria have become widely known 



and much studied, although there has been no unanimity in regard to their sig- 

 nificance. Ernst, after several years' silence upon the subject, now contributes 

 the result of a long series of new studies upon these bodies which bear his name. 

 Most of the paper is taken up by a description of the appearance of these bodies 

 as shown by recent studies. His method of study is the intra vitam staining 

 which has recently come into use. For a stain he uses grains of neutral red 

 and methylen blue which are allowed to dissolve slowly in the liquid in which 

 the bacteria are living and stain the organisms. The observations which -he 

 makes are many of them novel, and an examination of the two plates which 

 accompany the paper is necessary to give any idea of the wonderful variety 

 which these bodies present when studied by this method. One of the most in- 

 teresting facts pointed out is that these bodies are frequently in constant motion 

 circulating around within the bacterium. In regard to their significance Ernst 

 takes no very positive ground. He doubts that they are homologous with nuclei 

 as some have believed, and is even uncertain whether to look upon them as vital 

 parts of the bacteria body. Their meaning he regards as still wholly hypothet- 

 ical. H. w. c. 



Gauss. Babes-Ernst'sche Korperchen und This author has attempted to test the 

 Virulenz bei Bacterien. Cent. f. Bac. I, ^^^^^^ ^^ the conclusions recently 

 31 : 92. •' 



reached by Marx and Woithe that the 



pathogenic power of the bacteria can be determined by the presence of so-called 

 Babes-Ernst bodies. These authors have reached the conclusion that if these 

 bodies are present in the bacteria the organisms have pathogenic proper- 

 ties, whereas if they are absent the pathogeijic properties are also absent. The 

 practical value of such a conclusion, if true, is very considerable, because it 

 would enable the microscopist quite readily to determine whether or not a given 

 culture of bacteria possesses pathogenic properties. Gauss was very doubt- 

 ful as to any wide application of this law, and for the purpose of demonstating 

 its truth or falsity has made a series of studies with B. pyocyaneous, which he 

 isolated from an acute case of pneumonia. The cultures which he obtained were 

 carefully tested as to their pathogenic power in animals, and he was able beyond 

 question to demonstrate that the organisms were endowed with strictly patho- 

 genic properties, but no Babes-Ernst bodies were found. His method of exam- 

 ination for these bodies is given in detail and was the method ordinarily us^d by 

 microscopists. The bodies appear to be totally absent, and yet the bacteria in 

 question were strictly pathogenic. The author is, therefore, inclined to believe 

 that the law advanced by Marx and Woithe is not a strict one and can never be 

 used practically for determining pathogenic properties of bacteria. h. w. c. 



