158 MAX LEVINE 



MacConkey (1905) remarks on the scarcity of B. aerogenes 

 in human feces. In the examination of 205 coli-like strains 

 obtained from 22 samples of human stools, only 4 were B. aero- 

 genes and of these 3 were isolated from a single sample. His 

 observations on cow dung also indicated that this organism 

 was extremely rare. 



Ferriera, Horta and Paredes in an examination of 117 lactose 

 fermenting strains from human feces obtained a positive Pros- 

 kauer (presumably Voges-Proskauer) reaction in only eight 

 instances. Among 81 coli strains obtained from 46 species 

 of animals (8 birds and 38 manunals) they found only two which 

 gave a positive "Proskauer" test. 



The work of Clemesha is particularly significant because his 

 conclusions are based on such large numbers of cultures. He 

 examined 1207 organisms from human feces and 1029 from cow 

 dung. In the latter B. aerogenes was found to be present in 

 very small numbers and B. cloacae was sometimes common. In 

 human stools, however, B. aerogenes and B. cloacae were very 

 rare, nor was a sudden increase in the prevalence of these types 

 ever observed. These findings are confirmed to a considerable 

 extent by R. G. Archibald of the Wellcome Tropical Research 

 Laboratories in an investigation of the water supply of Kliartoum. 



Of 117 cultures isolated in this laboratory from fecal sources 

 (cow, horse, sheep, pig and man) not a single organism proved 

 to be B. aerogenes, but of 39 organisms obtained from raw and 

 septic sewage 9 (23 per cent) were of the B. aerogenes group 

 (V.-P pos.). The relative abundance of these Voges-Proskauer 

 positive organisms in sewage coupled with their extreme scarcity 

 in human and other animal feces leads to the inference that they 

 may perhaps represent soil forms. 



Clemesha found that in India B. aerogenes is more prevalent 

 in rivers and lakes during the wet reason than during the dry 

 period. He explains this phenomenon on the basis of a sup- 

 posed multiplication of the organisms in water, but observes that 

 all his experiments indicate that such multiplication does not take 

 place, at least in artificial mixtures. Nevertheless he maintains 

 that in large bodies of water, such as rivers and lakes, there is un- 



