C46 BACTERIA IN THE SOIL. 



The researches of Proskauer (1891) confirm those of Frankel and 

 others as to the rapid diminution in the number of bacteria in the 

 deeper layers of the soil. They also agree with those of Gartner in 

 showing that in the soil of churchyards the number of bacteria 

 diminishes greatly in the soil beneath the layer containing coffins. 

 In general the influence of dead bodies upon the bacteria in the soil 

 in the vicinity of coffins was very slight; in the subsoil of the grave- 

 yard there were not many more bacteria than in similar soil outside 

 of this. Reimers had previously shown that samples of earth from 

 two graves, in one of which the body had been buried for thirty-five 

 years and in the other for one and one-half years, gave similar re- 

 sults when examined by bacteriological methods. 



Manfredi in 1892 published the results of his extended investiga- 

 tions relating to the dust in the streets of Naples, The number of 

 bacteria varied greatly in different parts of the city. In streets 

 where the traffic was least and hygienic conditions the best the 

 average number was 10,000,000 per gramme. In dirty and busy 

 thoroughfares the average was 1,000,000,000, and in certain locali- 

 ties the number was even five times as great as this. Injections into 

 guinea-pigs gave a positive result in seventy-three per cent of the 

 animals experimented upon. Among the known pathogenic bacte- 

 ria obtained in this way were the pus cocci (in eight), Bacillus tuber- 

 culosis (in three), the bacillus of malignant oedema, and the tetanus 

 bacillus. 



In the memoir of Fulles (1891) the following species are described 

 as having been found by him in the soil at Freiburg, Germany: 



MICROCOCCI. 



(a) Non-liquefying. Micrococcus aurantiacus (Colin), Micrococcus can- 

 didus (Cohn), Micrococcus luteus (Cohn), Mjcrococcus candicans (Fliigge), 

 Micrococcus versicolor (Fliigge), Micrococcus cinnabareus (Fliigge), Micro- 

 coccus cereus albus (Passet), Micrococcus fervitosus (Adametz), Bother coc- 

 cus (Maschek*. 



(b) Liquefying. Micrococcus flavus liquefaciens (Fliigge), Micrococcus 

 flavus desidens (Fliigge), Diplococcus luteus (Adametz), Sarcina lutea. 



NON-PATHOGENIC BACILLI. 



(a) Non-liquefying. Bacillus fluorescens putidus (Fliigge), Bacillus mus- 

 coides (Liborius), Bacillus scissus (Frankland), Bacillus candicans, Bacillus 

 diffusus (Frankland), Bacillus filiformis (Tils), Bacillus luteus (Fliigge), 

 Fluorescent water bacillus (Eisenberg), Bacillus viridis pallescens (Frick), 

 Bluish-green fluorescent bacillus (Adametz), Bacillus stolonatus (Adametz), 

 Bacillus Ziirnianum (List), Bacillus aerogenes (Miller), Bacillus No. 1 and 

 Bacillus No. 2 (Fulles). 



(6) Liquefying. Bacillus ramosus liquefaciens (Flugge\ Bacillus liqui- 

 dus (Frankland), Bacillus ramosus "wurzel bacillus," Bacillus subtilis 



