356 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



good growth after 24 hours ; in broth it forms small crumbling flocculi 

 that collect on the sides and at the bottom of the tube, the medium 

 remaining clear ; milk is not coagulated ; there is no formation of indol ;■ 

 the cultures have but slight vitality. Morphologically it is a coccus, 

 not staining by Gram, and not acid-fast ; in first cultures it appears as a 

 diplococcus resembling the gonococcus, but in late cultures tetrad forms 

 occur, and some resembling the diplococcus of Weichselbaum, the 6-7 

 days old cultures showing many involution forms. Sections of the liver 

 had the appearance of tuberculous lesions. Cultures inoculated into 

 laboratory animals gave negative results. A tuberculous Iguana inocu- 

 lated subcutaneously with * 1 c.cm. of a fresh blood agar culture of the 

 coccus, died with symptoms clinically and pathologically identical with 

 those of the animal from which the organism was originally isolated. 



Bacillus peptonificans causing an epidemic of gastro-enteritis.* 

 — Lubenau gives an account of an epidemic of gastro-enteritis that 

 occurred among the inmates of a sanatorium who had partaken of a dish 

 of " Konigsberger Klopsen " and which was apparently caused by a 

 short stout bacillus that stained by Gram, and which morphologically 

 bore certain resemblances to the hay bacillus. Growth appears on 

 gelatin at 23° C. within 24 hours, the medium being liquefied ; on agar 

 at 37° C. there is good growth of separate grey colonies with broad 

 iridescent margins, that run together, forming a moist white grey skin 

 over the surface of the agar. Broth is clouded, but on the second day 

 it clears, forming a grey pellicle, the bacilli showing active movement ; 

 in glucose broth there is no gas formation ; litmus milk becomes 

 intensely alkaline within three days, the milk remaining clear with the 

 formation of a grey pellicle. Milk at first shows no change, but within 

 a week there is a production of whey from the gradual digestion of the 

 albumen, so that after two weeks clear whey remains above, and a deposit 

 of sporulating bacilli at the bottom of the tube ; the pepton formed in 

 this process may be demonstrated by the Biuret reaction. Spore forma- 

 tion was observed in all media ; the spores are oval, centrally placed, and 

 very resistent, retaining their vitality after two hours' boiling. A haemo- 

 lysis is formed by the bacilli and passes over in the filtrate of the broth. 

 Young dogs fed on milk infected with the organism developed symptoms 

 of gastro-enteritis, and the bacillus was isolated from the faeces. 



Action of Radium on Chromogenic Bacteria.| — C. Bouchard and 

 Balthazar find that the emanations of radium do not modify the 

 chromogenic properties of those bacteria, like Micrococcus prodigiosus, 

 that secrete a colouring matter limited to the bacterial bodies, although 

 if the dose is increased sufficiently the growth of the organism is arrested. 

 With the other class of chromogenic bacteria, like B. fluorescens and 

 B. pyocyaneus, producing pigment that is diffused into the culture 

 medium, the chromogenic property is weakened by doses of the radium 

 emanation much smaller than are needed to impair the vitality of the 

 microbes. The authors note also, in respect of the action of radium 

 emanations on B. pyocyaneus, that increasing doses not only diminish 



* Centralbl. Bakt.. Orig. l t8 Abt., xl. (1906) p. 433. 

 t Comptes Rendus, cxlii. (1906) p. 619. 



