INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND MICROBES, ETC. 201 



Dr. Klein 1 does not accept these statements without 

 reservation. 



Professor Brieger 2 has shown that when M. 

 pneumonia is grown in solutions of glucose or 

 sucrose, acetic acid is formed along with ethyl 

 alcohol and formic acid. The same products are 

 formed when the microbe is grown in solutions of 

 creatine and calcium lactate. 



Dr. P. F. Frankland 3 has recently investigated 

 the action of the same microbe on various carbo- 

 hydrates, with the following results : 



(a) Micrococcus pneumonice sets up a fermentive 

 process in solutions of dextrose, sucrose, lactose, 

 maltose, raffinose, dextrin, and mannitol. 



(b) It does not ferment solutions of dulcitol or 

 glycerol, and has thus the power, like the Bacilhis 

 ethaceticus (see p. 155), of distinguishing between 

 the isomers, mannitol, and dulcitol. 



(c) The fermentation of mannitol is represented 

 by the following equation : 



6C 6 H U 6 + H 2 = 9C 2 H 5 HO + 4CH 3 COOH + 10C0 2 -j- 8H 2 . 



In other words, the above equation represents the 

 quantitative decomposition of mannitol into alcohol, 

 acetic acid, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen. 



It would be interesting to ascertain whether 

 acetic acid and alcohol are formed in human milk 

 during an attack of pneumonia; for it may be 

 stated that the lactose is reduced from 43-6 to 

 30-2 parts per 1000. 



1 Micro-Organisms and Disease, p. 77 (3d. ed.). 



2 Zeit. Physiol. Chem., vol. viii. p. 306 ; and vol. ix. p. 1. 



3 Journal of Chemical Society, 1891, p. 253. 



