70 BACTERIOLOGY. 



Pasteur first demonstrated for the bacteria 

 of chicken cholera, and as has been subse- 

 quently ascertained to be the case with the 

 pneumonia and cholera germs. 



F. Cohn discovered that if dry hay or cotton 

 waste be moistened its temperature rises and a 

 sort of fermentation sets in which rapidly 

 raises the temperature of the mass to 67.2. 

 This fermentation is caused by different bac- 

 teria, but especially by a species of micrococcus 

 and by the hay bacillus. In Augsburg high 

 temperatures produced in this way are used in 

 the heating of green-houses. If such masses 

 of organic substance which dampening has 

 caused to ferment come in contact with any 

 dry, dust-like material, this latter may burst 

 into flame. Some cases of " spontaneous com- 

 bustion " may possibly be due, therefore, to 

 bacterial growth. 



As regards the action of electricity on bac- 

 teria, special investigations by Kriiger 1 have 

 supplemented the earlier works in which stress 

 was laid exclusively upon electrolytic effects. 

 According to Kriiger the constant current, when 

 the chemical effect of the ions is eliminated 

 as completely as possible by means of unpolari- 

 zable electrodes, does not kill bacteria but 

 does completely inhibit their growth. If the 



iZeitschr. f. klin. Med., XXII., p. 191. 



