1006 RECORD OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



certainly surrounded by a cell-wall, but disputes tbe statement of 

 Brefeld that they possess an epispore and a clear intermediate space. 



Effect of Putrefactive Changes on Bacteria.* — In all solutions 

 containing Bacteria a time arrives when they cease to propagate, and 

 after a longer time they lose their power to induce further life in 

 fresh nutrient solutions. The admitted fact leads to the belief that 

 the putrefaction induced by Bacteria produces substances which are 

 poisons to these organisms. 



Experiments have been made by Dr. Wernich on meat extracts of 

 various ages with phenol, skatole, indole, and other putrefaction- 

 products, all of which were found to exercise an injurious effect on 

 Bacteria ; moreover, substances most disposed to putrefaction were 

 easily preserved from it by means of any of them in fresh solutions 

 which were purposely impregnated. The addition of trifling quan- 

 tities of these matters promptly caused inactivity of the Bacteria, and 

 the author considers he has fully proved the truth of Baumann and 

 Nencki's propositions on the subject. 



The experiments in question lead to the solution of a highly 

 interesting problem in pathology. The author says that the same 

 or similar operations are carried out in the progress of septic 

 diseases ; the supposition that the organisms which are the cause of 

 infectious diseases give rise to products which eventually cause their 

 own destruction, is the only way in which the progress of these 

 diseases can be properly comprehended. Many diseases, such as 

 small-pox, measles, scarlet and relapsing fever, which are now 

 generally ascribed to the presence of Bacteria, progress so peculiarly 

 and take such a regular course that one is forced to believe that, with 

 the cause of the malady, its own distinctive poison is produced in the 

 same manner as in the experiments here noted. 



Theory of Virulent Diseases and the "Fowl-Cholera.''t — The 

 view that the infectious diseases, such as measles, scarlet fever, small- 

 pox, syphilis, splenic fever, yellow fever, typhus, and others, are con- 

 nected with the presence and operation of organized ferments, the 

 communication of which from one individual to another constitutes 

 the infection, has lately met with increasing support. Hitherto, 

 however, except in the case of splenic fever, direct and conclusive 

 proofs of this hypothesis have not been forthcoming; but in the 

 instance named the bacteria which cause it have been discovered, and 

 their mode of action so far determined that it is possible by their 

 means to produce the disease whenever desired. Very recently 

 M. Pasteur has been able to rear the organism which is the cause of 

 another disease, and to study its biological peculiarities. As the 

 investigation throws light on the mysterious question of the immunity 

 of individuals from a given contagious disease from which they have 

 recovered, the facts elicited may be given more at length. 



* 'Bied. Centr.,' 1880, pp. 224-6. See ' Journ. Chem. Soc.,' Abstr. xxxviii. 

 (1880) pp. 726-7. See also this Journal, ajite, p. 314. 



t ' Comptes Reudus,' xc. (1880) pp. 239-48. Cf. ' Naturforscher,' xiii. (1880) 

 pp. 117-18; also Prof. J. Lister's address to Annual Meeting of British Medical 

 " Association at Cambridge, 'Brit. Med. Journ.,' 1880, pp. 363-5. 



