IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 71 



which was derived from higher fungi or algae. Many physicians and scientists 

 were inclined to accept these wild doctrines. Was not the evidence good? Had 

 he not the microscopical and culture demonstrations? Opposing these theories 

 were two eminent botanists, DeBary and Hoffmann, the latter a strong believer 

 in polymorphism, both were able investigators, the former one of the most brill- 

 iant botanists of our time. They held that species of bacteria could not be 

 changed into higher fungi. 



DeBary maintained that the flrst canon had not been observed, namely, watch- 

 ing the development of these forms. Hoffmann went so far as to state that 

 polymorphism does not occur in bacteria. But we cannot close this part of the 

 subject without referring to the work of Nasgeli, an eminent German botanist 

 and author of a celebrated work on "Die Niederen Pilze," who maintained that 

 species of Schizomycetes cannot be defined by morphological characters. 



DETERMINATION OF SPECIES. 



For several years the writer has been studying the flora of butter, cheese, milk 

 and cream. Many species have been found, and of these but few could be located, 

 largely due to the inperfect descriptions; the chromogenes were much easier 

 because more attention has been given to them and their color affords good 

 characters. Saccardo" in his Sylloge Fungorum, gives descriptions of a large 

 number ot species. This work of De Toni is, of course, largely a compilation, the 

 descriptions are largely abbreviated so that it is a hopeless task to properly or even 

 approach the species. The tables of Eisenberg'^ are much more satisfactory, 

 though even these are sometimes wanting in fullness. Nevertheless Eisenberg's 

 tables are samples of what should be done in this line of study. The works of 

 Flugge'3, Sims, Woodhead'^, Crookshank'', will enable one to locate some of the 

 more common species. Of special importance in this connection 1 may mention 

 the paper by Edwin 0. Jordan'^* on the Bacteria of Sewage. The descriptions of 

 the species found there are especially full. The paper by Welz"^ on the bacteriolo- 

 gical examination of air, contains excellent descriptions of several species. 

 A paper by Dr. H. L. Russell'^, on the bacteria occurring in the water of the Bay 

 of Naples, is certainly a model in its way. 



The imperfect descriptions of pathogenic organisms are not so numerous 

 because of the importance of the subject from a hygienic standpoint. In some 

 cases these contain many valuable notes on the biology of the organisms, as Kruse 

 and Pansini'* on the Diplococcus of Pneumonia and related Streptococci. The 

 excellent papers of Dr. Theobald Smith'^ that are replete with biological and 



11 Sylloge Fungorum, vol. VIII, pp. 923-10S7. 



i2Bakteriolo?lscbe Diagnostlk Hilfstabellen zum praktischea Arbeiten, second 

 edition, pp. 159. Leopold Voss, l»?B. 



13 Die Mikroorganismen, mlt besondeier Berueckslchtigung der Aetlologie der 

 Infections Krankhelten, pp. G92, with 144 figures. Second edition, Vogel, Leipzig, 1S86. 



1* Bacteria and their products, pp. 459, with 20 photo-micrographs, London, Walter 

 Scott, lfi92. 



15 Manual of Bacteriology. 



15h a report on certain species of bacteria observed in Sewage. Mass. State Board 

 of Health, ISOO, Pt. II, p. 821. 



iSBacterlologische Untersuchungen der Luft in Freiburg und die Umgebung. 

 Zeltschrift fur Hygieine und Tnfectiouskrankheiten. Vol. XI, p. 121. 



I'Untersehuugen ueber im Golf von Neapel lebende Bacterien. Zeitschrlft fur 

 Hygiene und Infectionskrankheiten. Vol. XI, pp. 165-20G, plates XII-XIII and three 

 figures. 



I'Unterschungen ueber den Uiplococcus pneumoniae and verwandte Streptokokken_ 

 Zeitschrift fur Hygiene und Infectionskrankheiten. vol XI. p. 227. 



i»Hog Cholera Report, 1889. Swine Plague Report, 1891, U. S. Dept. of Agrl., etc. 



