THE VITAL PHENOMENA OF BACTERIA. 89 



antiseptic, the villainously smelling iodoform, 

 is in reality effective as an antiseptic only when 

 iodine is split off which is somewhat unusual 

 and that, as a rule, its action is simply to 

 annul the effect of the bacterial poisons. In 

 this connection it may be said that I have found 

 that the bismuth salt of tribromphenol, which 

 has little odor, and in combination none at all, 

 and which is a powerful disinfectant, is able 

 to destroy bacterial poisons far better than 

 iodoform. 



Of great interest is the discovery by Naegeli x 

 of the fact that a mere trace of metallic copper 

 proves fatal to algal protoplasm ; such an action 

 is called by him " oligodynamic." Similarly, 

 Miller and Behring have found that metallic 

 gold and copper can arrest the development of 

 bacteria, although no perceptible trace of the 

 metals goes into solution. Leaving out of 

 consideration for the moment such phenom- 

 ena, which are as yet but little understood, 

 as well as the fact that certain chemical 

 bodies, even when in extreme dilution, attack 

 atom groups essential to the vitality of liv- 

 ing proteid, a generally valid conclusion for 

 the effect of chemicals upon protoplasts may 

 still be drawn. Arndt, Schultz, and Hueppe 

 have, independently of one another, formu- 



1 Cf. Biol. Centralbl. XIV., p. 129. 



