LS ~~ ey = 
178 BACTERIA IN RELATION TO PLANT DISEASES. 
bacteria: Micrococcus cinnabareus, A planobacter pneumoniae (Weichselbaum), Streptococcus pyogenes, 
Bacillus coli, Bacillus prodigiosus, Mycobacterium diphtheriae, Bacillus typhosus, A planobacter anthracis 
(spores and filaments) and Actinomyces. 
For each one he used two specimens of onions and hyacinths well provided with leaves, and 
three sorts of cactus. The places where the wounds were to be made were first painted with mercuric 
chloride, alcohol and ether to destroy the surface organisms, then with a pair of sterile shears the 
wound was made and through the opening by means of a platinum loop the culture was inserted. 
The wound was immediately closed, the exuding excess of culture removed with a sterile knife and 
the wound fastened together with collodion. As a rule the wound healed well. 
After 8 days the infected spots were sampled with a flamed corkborer, their infectiousness 
tested on animals, and the presence of the organism determined both by cultures and by examination 
of sections. With the next larger corkborer, a cylinder-mantle was also removed and transferred 
to bouillon. In the cylinders that were used for inoculations and sections the following organisms 
were found living: A planobacter anthracis, Bacillus prodigiosus, B. coli, and M. cinnabareus. The 
following were dead: Streptococcus pyogenes, Mycobacterium diphtheriae, Bacillus typhosus and A plano- 
bacter pneumoniae. Actinomyces transferred to agar also failed to grow. The cylinder-mantle, which 
was about 5 mm. thick, left the bouillon clear. Anthrax was found only in spore form in the plant 
tissues. These wounds were all superficial. The author then tried whether inoculations into deeper 
wounds would have any different results. For this purpose he used a needle with which he made 
deep punctures introducing into them the organism. The general method of procedure was the same, 
sterilizing the surface and finally covering the wound with collodion. ‘Tests were then made after 
various periods. Again the anthrax organism was found to have sporulated and the spores were 
fully infectious at the end of 4 months. The diphtheria organism and the pneumonia germ were 
noninfectious at the end of 48 hours. The typhoid bacillus at the end of 5 days was non-infectious, 
and Bacillus coli at the end of 8 days. Micrococcus cinnabareus and Bacillus prodigiosus dried out but 
remained alive a long time. Streptococcus pyogenes also remained alive, but showed on the ordinary 
culture media only a slight or weakened growth. The sections showed that the diphtheria organism 
had taken on involution forms, while the Actinomyces had fallen into a granular detritus. These 
experiments were made in warm and dry air. 
This author also tried some experiments in moist air, using for this purpose A planobacter anthra- 
cis (spores and threads), and Micrococcus cinnabareus. ‘The inoculations were into buds and the 
plants were kept in a moist chamber. After some days fungi appeared on the inoculated places and 
these seem to have quickly killed the bacteria, as the latter could not be recovered in poured-plates. 
Kornauth’s conclusions therefore, are just opposed to Lominsky’s: ‘‘The bacteria introduced 
into the living plant under favorable conditions as to warmth, exclusion of foreign organisms, etc., 
have never shown any multiplication and just as little any staining of the inoculated spot (through 
chromogenic bacteria) or a loss of color of the surrounding tissues.” 
ii i 
—— 
Zinsser’s paper appeared in 1897. It deals mostly with the root-nodule organisms of 
the Leguminosae, but there are also detailed experiments with other bacteria. The work 
was done in Pfeffer’s laboratory. 
Zinsser gives a very interesting table showing the behavior of various bacteria when introduced 
into plant tissues. In one instance Bacillus prodigiosus yielded cultures after remaining in a bean 
stem 96 days. In general, Bacillus subtilis, B. megaterium. and B. prodigiosus were most resistant, 
being frequently found alive in the stems and leaves of various plants after 14 to 48 days. Other 
organisms were destroyed more speedily. Zinsser also inoculated animal pathogenic forms into 
plants. He experimented mostly with A planobacter anthracis. ‘This lived in various plants such as 
beans, Cyclamen, Abutilon, Sempervivum, and Barbacenia from 14 to 28 days. In several cases it was 
dead after 27 to 28 days. Even the more resistant species did not multiply extensively or behave 
like parasites. All lost their ability to grow after a longer or shorter period and perished. Concern- 
ing their spread in the tissues the author says: 
“Now and then according to the microscopic appearance the injected bacteria appeared to have 
multiplied for a short time, and they were able also to penetrate into the neighboring tissue, but this 
power of translocation is not great, for even a few centimeters away from the point of inoculation 
I could not afterwards demonstrate bacteria.” 
The following notes are.from Hartleb’s paper: 
Hartleb, who worked in Stutzer’s laboratory in Bonn, states (1898) that he experimented with 
the bacteria of the foot and mouth disease, using their organism and Siegel’s organism. The inocu- 
lations were made into the steins of beans, Vicia faba, potatoes, and peas. He also inoculated pods 
