CHEESE-RIPENING BACILLI. 349 



Schattenfroh and Grassberger (C. B. L. v, 209) announce 

 the discovery in the Vienna Hygienic Institute of three 

 further types x of anaerobic butyric acid organisms, which 

 were found while the Bacillus butyricus Botkin was being 

 sought for in market milk. 



They could not certainly identify their organisms with 

 the numerous anaerobic varieties from milk which Flugge 

 has described very briefly and designated by numbers. 



Special Sporulating Anaerobic Bacilli as Agents in 

 the Ripening of Cheese. 



The interminably disputed and difficult question as to 

 the part played by bacteria in the ripening of cheese is 

 still not satisfactorily solved. 



It is questionable whether non-living milk ferments 

 play a part, as is believed by Babcock and Russell 

 (C. B. L. in, 615). It is certain that bacteria are con- 

 cerned in the ripening of cheese, and very evidently quite 

 different varieties in different cheeses. 



Duclaux was certainly right when he said that sporu- 

 lating varieties play an important role in the ripening of 

 certain soft cheeses (Cantal, Backstein, Limburger). 



Weigmarm described as Paraplectrum foetidum (C. B. 

 L. iv, 820) an obligate anaerobe, very like the bacilli of 

 tetanus and symptomatic anthrax morphologically, but 

 not pathogenic, which produces a pronounced odor of 

 cheese. It is usually associated with the similar faculta- 

 tive anaerobe Clostridium licheniforme Weigmann, 

 which usually forms spores at the middle, with swelling 

 of the cell, and, perhaps, by exhausting the oxygen, it 

 prepares the soil for the Par. foetidum. Further details 

 are found in the original, which is accompanied by photo- 

 graphs. The work shows how much remains to be done 

 in the field of differential diagnosis of anaerobic varieties, 

 and also how insecure the genera paraplectrum and Clos- 

 tridium are. (See p. 125. ) 



1 All three form butyric acid, but no alcohol, accompanied by 

 abundant liberation of gas, from milk-sugar, starch, or grape-sugar. 

 On the contrary, they are without effect upon dextrorotatory lactic 

 acid. None of the three peptonized the precipitated casein; two are 

 motile, one is not. 



