HARRISON, DECEMBER, 1900. 61 



One polar flagellura (p. 56) does not apply to Bacillus alvei. A 

 lieav}', tenacious pelliclo does not suo;gcst Bacillus alvei. Tlie lique- 

 faction in five days of the surface gelatin in tubes containing this 

 medium does not suggest Bacillus alvei. The surface growth on 

 agar, wliich Harrison describes as resembling "seaweed," is not 

 encountered in the study of Bacillus alvei. These last three cultural 

 characters are observed, however, in members of that group of 

 bacteria of which Bacillus A (p, 76) is a member. 



Harrison used cultures which he identified as Bacillus alvei in per- 

 forming a number of laboratory experiments bearing directly upon 

 the treatment of foul brood. His object was to determine the anti- 

 septic value of various drugs for tliis species. The results obtained 

 by this method of testing the antiseptic value were reported for weak 

 solutions of salicylic acid, camphor, thymol, carbolic acid and tar, 

 creolin, eucalyptus, beta naphthol, naphthalene, and formic acid. 

 In doing this the drug to be tested was added to agar. The agar 

 was inoculated with a pure culture of the organism, and observations 

 were made as to whether a growth took place on tliis medicated 

 medium. 



Harrison gives the results of experiments in wliich he used two 

 colonies of bees to test the value of naphthol and formic acid in the 

 treatment of foul brood. The results which he obtained, however, can 

 have only a relative value in treatment, since the organism with wliich 

 he worked has most likely no etiological relation to any disease, or 

 at least an unimportant one. Harrison had reached the conclusion 

 that considerable attenuation in cultures of B. alvei may take place 

 by its prolonged growth on artificial media. Since old cultures on 

 this ground might be objectionable, he used, in his experimental 

 inoculation, cultures wliich were only three generations from the 

 diseased larvae. 



The further technique, in the carrying out of his experiment, 

 involved the feeding of the spores from cultures to each of two 

 healthy swarms placed side by side. The spores were scraped from 

 the surface of an agar slant, put into 10 cc. of water, and well shaken. 

 This suspension was then poured into medicated sirup. One colony 

 was fed sirup containing the spores of B. alvei and one-third of a 

 grain of beta naphthol to 1 Hter of the sirup. The other colony was 

 fed sirup containing the spores of B. alvei to wliich about 1.8 cc, of 

 fonnic acid to a liter of sirup had been added. In both cases the 

 medicated and inoculated sirup was taken up readily by the bees. 

 The feedings were continued for three weeks, feechng four times per 

 week. Each colony received in this way the growth from 12 agar 

 slants. During the feeding period the combs containing the brood 

 were examined, but no typical symptoms of the disease appeared. 

 Cultures of B. alvei were obtained, however, from different parts of 



