132 RECOltD OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



starcli-graius is, however, different from that which diastase produces, 

 and which has been frequently described and figured in germinating 

 grains of corn. 



Relation of Oxygen to the Life of the Microzoa.* — It is stated 

 by Gunning, t as the result of a long series of experiments, that, in the 

 case of putrescible liquids contained in sealed glass vessels, putrefac- 

 tion either never sets in, or, if it does, is speedily suspended. This 

 appears to be directly contrary to a statement of Nencki, based on 

 the experiments of Jeanneret, viz. that living organisms can, in the 

 absence of oxygen, both induce and bring to completion the decom- 

 position of relatively large quantities of organic matters. Nencki, 

 in criticizing this objection, shows (1) that the exclusion of air by 

 hermetically closing the vessel introduces the condition of the pre- 

 vention of the escape of volatile products, which, by consequent 

 accumulation, may end or prejudice the life of haderia, &c. ; and (2) 

 that the liquids used to induce putrefaction did not contain those 

 special ferment organisms whose life is independent of a supply of 

 oxygen. The methods by which he subjected the point to a further 

 investigation are described, and as the result he considers that his 

 original statement is justified. 



On the other hand, he corroborates the observation of Gunning 

 that the putrefaction of liquids contained in sealed vessels takes place 

 only up to a certain point, the attainment of this limit being evidenced 

 by the liquid becoming clear, the organisms losing their activity and 

 sinking to the bottom. The explanation of this lies in the poisonous 

 action on an organism of its own excreta, which is probably true for 

 the lower as for the higher forms of life. 



In reference to the probable cause of the non-occurrence of 

 fermentation in several of Gunning's experiments, viz. the absence of 

 " anaerobic " organisms, the microscopic examination of fluids putre- 

 fying under exposure to the air demonstrated the following points : — 

 The scum which forms on the surface contains Microbacteria and 

 BacillarifB only, whereas in the deeper parts of the fluid, protected by 

 this scum from access of oxygen, different forms of Coccus are found, 

 together with the knobbed form of bacteria, these latter being 

 essentially anaerobic organisms. The same definite localization of 

 the " organized ferments " is observed in liquids putrefying under the 

 influence of pancreas-extract, whether at the ordinary temperature or 

 at 40°. In the latter case, in which the process is more rapid, the 

 localization is most sharply defined from the second to the fourth day. 

 Further light is thrown on the conditions of life of these anaerobic 

 organisms by an experiment of Kaufmann's. To a boiling solution 

 (10 per cent.) of 230 grains gelatin, 10 c. c. of pancreas- extract were 

 added, and the whole was cooled to 40°, at which temperature it was 

 maintained in an apparatus similar to that described by Jeanneret. J 



Putrefaction set in on the third day ; and on the seventeenth day 



* ' Journ. Prakt. Chem.,' six. (1879) p. 337; see 'Joum. Chem. Soc.,' 1879. 

 Abstr., p. 953. t Ibid., p. 266. 



X •Joum. Prakt. Chem.,' xix. (1879) p. 353. 



