and Laboratory Methods. 2635 



CURRENT BACTERIOLOGICAL LITERATURE. 



H. W. CONN, Wesleyan University. 



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

 Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. 



Gage and Phelps. On the classification and -j^hese authors have made an actual 

 identification ot Bacteria with a description 

 of the card system in use at the Lawrence contribution tO the vexed problem of 



Experiment Station for Records of Species, systematic bacteriology. Guided by 



Proc. Am. Pub. Health Ass., 1902. ^ bj } 



the numerical system of records sug- 

 gested first by Kendall, they have modified this system so as to record all char- 

 acters which are in use for the distinction of species. This has been accomplished 

 by a grouping of characters, impossible to describe in an abstract, but simple in 

 application. They have further devised a record card for specific descriptions 

 upon which a complete description of any bacterium can be entered, everything 

 being recorded by numbers. The distinctive numbers are placed in a single 

 line on the top of the card, making comparisons very easy. By the system of 

 card cataloguing these cards can be filled in such a way as to bring together 

 species with similar numbering, and hence close relations. The plan is calcu- 

 lated to simplify the difficult task of keeping bacteriological records, and will 

 aid much in bringing order out of the chaos of systematic bacteriology. No 

 bacteriologist who is concerned with water bacteria, or any other branch of the 

 subject that involves the study of numerous species, can afford to miss the careful 

 consideration of this simple means of recording results. 



Kendall. A Proposed Classification and A second article, which is, in a way, an 



Method of Graphical Tabulation of the . ^ ^, , ■ 1. t^ 1 n 



Characters of Bacteria. Proc. Am. Pub. extension of the above IS by Kendall, 



Health Association, 1902. published in the same journal. This 



is a further attempt to reduce to a numerical form a method of recording the 



properties of bacteria. The author uses the nomenclature given by Chester and 



assigns arbitrarily certain numbers to various terms used in the descriptions. 



The result is that by the use of these numbers a very condensed description of 



species of bacteria is possible. This article together with that of Gage and 



Phelps will certainly form a basis of bacteriological records and will be of 



inestimable value in systematizing bacteriological data. 



Rogozinski. Ueber die physiologische Resorp- A Study of the vexed question whether 

 tion von Bakterien aus dem Darm. Hyg. micro-organisms are capable of migrat- 

 Rund , p. 926, 1903. 1 • 1 



ing from the alimentary canal is the 



subject of this research. The method adopted for study was to narcotize the 

 animal, and opening the body before the animal is dead, to remove for study 

 portions of the living organs. Small quantities of such materials, taken with the 

 greatest precautions to prevent contamination, are inoculated into bouillon, and 

 allowed to grow, after which plates are made from the bouillon culture. Various 

 tests convinced the author that the method is satisfactory, and that his results 

 are not due to contamination. He finds in general that the mesenteric glands 

 practically always contain bacteria, whereas the chyle, the liver, and the spleen 

 are free from them. 



