The Microscope. 187 



The Schizomycetes are classified by Prof. Flue^ge under four 

 principal groups, viz. : (1), Micrococcus (including Staphyloccus, 

 Streptococcus^ Diplococcus, Aseococcus and Sarcina) ; (2), Bacillus 

 (including Bacterium); (3), Spirillum, and (4), a group allied to 

 Nostocaceae, comprising Leptothrix, Crenothrix and Beggiatoa. 

 "Each of the first two groups is again divided into pathogenic and 

 saprophytic forms. The phenomena connected with gelatin culture 

 are dwelt on detail with each species. The author inclines to the 

 view of Koch and Cohn with regard to the genetic distinction of 

 the various forms, rather than to that of Zoph. — Journal of the 

 Royal Microscopical Society. 



NEWS AND NOTES. 



De. Frank L. James, the accomplished editor of the St. Louis 

 Medical and Surgical Journal, and author of " Elementary 

 Microscopical Technology," has accepted editorial charge of The 

 National Druggist. 



The Popular Science News' Paris correspondent calls attention 

 to a paper recently read before the Academy of Sciences by M. 

 Gal tier, which concludes by saying that the tubercle bacillus is 

 one of the most refractory to destroying influences such as desicca- 

 tion, putrefaction, freezing, etc., and that none of the methods of 

 practical appliance are potent enough to destroy them in houses, 

 bed-material, carpets, etc., when a tubercular patient has lived in 

 them for some time. 



In a paper before the Physiological Society of Berlin, Prof. 

 Kronecker and Friiulein Rink reported an investigation which 

 demonstrated that in peptone solution two kinds of bacteria are 

 developed in the presence of air; Bacillus restituens, which trans- 

 formed the peptone into serous albumen, exactly in the same way as 

 did the living mucous membrane of the stomach; and Bacillus 

 virescens, which liquified the alimentary gelatin and imparted a deep 

 blue coloring to all sterilized substrata when exposed to the air. 

 This latter bacillus operated poisonously on the heart. — Bot. 

 Gazette. 



Netter, as the result of a number of observations, came to 

 the conclusion that the pneumococcus may be the cause of simple 

 meningitis, without a previous pneumonia; and that it may be the 

 occasion of cerebro-spinal meningitis. — Med. and Surg. Reporter. 



