( (593 ) 



If 11111(1 IVom a (lilcli is used as iiitcctiiii;- material a decided urowlli 

 is already iiolieed after 5 or (5 days, llic cellulose turns to an orauf^e 

 colour and may even disintegrate to a tliiii paste after ^-J or4Aveek8. 

 Microsco|iically. we see. that we olilain besides the cellnlose-dissol- 

 vijig- bacteria a \cv\ rich accumulation of spirillae, which however 

 do not themselves attack cellulose. 1 have often repeated the.'se 

 experiments and always with ihe sanu' result: the cnltiires become 

 extremely rich in s|)irillae and these cousisi of many Aarieticfs. 

 As a rule diifereiit s|)ecies were found in a same culture, larf>e 

 spirillae with several w indinus in company with small, very mobile 

 ones, but sometimes it also happened, that it looked undei- the 

 microscope, as if we were dealin,!;' with pure cultui-es of special 

 spirillae. These different results being no doubt connected with the 

 nature of the germs in the infecting materials employed. Often 

 however, we meet besides the spirillae, infusoria, monads, amoebae 

 and small forms of bacteria, sometimes also rod bacteria and spore 

 forming organisms, but the spirillae are always in the majority. 



If such cultures are transported into the same sterile medium, 

 the chief chai-acter remains the same, but the growth takes place 

 more rajiidly and as a rule the number of species of spirillae is much 

 reduced, so that frequently but a single one remains. Here it is perhaps 

 the proper place to state, that an accumulation of spirillae may also 

 be olitained in using a nutriejit licpiid composed as follows: 



Tajiwater lOO, calcium lactate 2, [leptone (),()o, KJiPO, 0,05, 



which is infected with a small (piantity of ditch-mud. 



At temperatures from 2(S — 37" exceedingly rich spirillae cultures 

 are formed in this licpiid. It w ould, however, be too rash thence lo 

 conclude, that lactate is formed as a transient decomposition |)rodiict 

 of the cellulose. 



The destruction of the cellulose is not oidy ap[)arent from the strong 

 growth of microbes, but also from a microscojiical examination of the 

 fibres. As in the case of the d(Miitrilication process, these are here also 

 found to be eJixchiped w ith a bacterial mucus in w liicli is always found 

 a xei'y small rtKl-bacteriiim, and occasionally a large micrococcus, which 

 itself does not attack cellulose, but much accelerates its dissolution by 

 the small bacterium. The destruction is no doubt caused by the latter, 

 tor sometimes, we have obtained cultures, w liicli excliisixely contained 

 this sj)ecies only. 



That the decomposition is here an aerobic one, is shown by the 

 fact, that it commences at the surface of tiie culture and also takes 

 place equally well when we cultixate in a very thin laver. 



47* 



