34 DR. E. KLEIN. 



sporeSj is naturally unable to supply the spores with the pabu- 

 lum necessary for germination, and hence these spores remain 

 as such in the fluid. These relations are perfectly in harmony 

 with all that Cohn has taught ('Beitrage zur Biol. d. Pfl. 

 II.,' Band ii.), about the behaviour of the spores of other 

 bacilli, notably the spores of the hay bacillus. Such spores I 

 have kept in the above test-tube as a sort of stock, both for 

 the production of fatal anthrax in animals as well as for the 

 establishment of new artificial cultivations. 



A new layer of liquefied gelatine teeming with spores is 

 gradually formed in the above flask, owing of course to a con- 

 tinuation of the growth of the bacillus threads and spores left 

 behind, and this layer can be drawn oflf in the same manner as 

 the former; thus liquefied masses teeming with spores can be 

 obtained and drawn off" in succession, until a thin layer of the 

 gelatine pork is left in the flask, in which, owing to the 

 enormous surface, abundant spore formation takes place in the 

 bacillus threads, and for the reasons above stated, many of 

 these spores are retained as such. If we start at the outset 

 with only a thin layer of gelatine pork or pure pork broth at 

 the bottom of a flask, and if we inoculate this with Bacillus 

 anthracis, we also obtain here, after a certain progress of the 

 growth of the bacillus threads, a copious crop of spores. This 

 has also been observed by Dr. Loffler, as mentioned above. 

 Many of these spores remain naturally as such in the fluid ad 

 infinitum. We have, then, several methods by which we can 

 with certainty obtain a crop of spores and preserve them ad 

 infinitum. All these observations prove in a most definite 

 manner that for the formation of spores in the Bacillus 

 anthracis a rich supply of air is required, and unless the 

 bacillus threads are well exposed to the air, no spore formation 

 takes place in them. Thus the statement of Cohn and Koch 

 are fully borne out by my observations. 



If on the other hand the inoculation of the gelatine pork in 

 test-tubes or in flasks takes place in the depth, that is to say, 

 if the seed is deposited at the outset at the bottom of the solid 

 gelatine mass, the growth proceeds slowly owing to the re- 



