The Fermentation Tube 211 



varieties which may be grouped under the specific name B. 

 ladis aerogenes and which further fermentation studies may 

 tend to define and separate. There is furthermore good reason 

 for regarding this species very closely related to B. coli. 



The bacillus of Friedlander*. This species has aroused 

 considerable attention owing to the supposition prevailing at 

 one time that it was the cause of pneumonia in man. With 

 reference to both morphological and cultural characters it 

 seems to bear the same relation to B. ladis aerogenes which 

 the hog cholera bacillus bears to B. coli. From the above 

 table it will be seen that this organism acts vigorously upon 

 glucose and saccharose but only feebly on lactose. 



The persistence of the gas-producing function of this species 

 is well illustrated by the fact that three years ago the same 

 culture gave the following result^® : 



Glucose, total gas 44 pr. ct.; CO. 43.4 pr. ct., H=56.6 pr. ct. 

 Saccharose, " " 46 " " " 41 " " H=59 pr. ct. 

 Lactose, " "19" " " 21.8" " H=78.2pr.ct. 



B. cedematis maligtii. Of anaerobic species only a few have 

 been cultivated in the fermentation tube. Some of these were 

 derived from the bodies of animals aitd represented those 

 "post mortem" bacilli quite invariably present some time 

 after death especially in the carcasses of large animals. These 

 were found gas-producing but no record was kept. In 1890'* 

 I isolated an anaerobe, probably identical with the bacillus of 

 malignant oedema, from the organs of a pig. I append a some- 

 what incomplete record of gas production in the fermentation 

 tube studied at that time which indicates a close relationship 

 to the same process in the B. coli group : 



* This bacillus has been studied from the chemical aspect by Frank- 

 land, Stanley and Frew". 



