130 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [June, 



they remain in accordance with some as yet unknown law of localiza- 

 tion. Their presence in this canal is shown from the fact that urine 

 passed directly into sterile flasks without external contamination will 

 undergo decomposition ; but if the urethral canal is previously disinfected 

 it will remain unchanged for an indefinite tune. 



Biological History. — In i860 Pasteur (i) showed that in decom- 

 posing urine the transformation of the urea into caj-bonate of ammonia 

 was due to a micrococcus which he found and designated as Torula 

 ammoniacale. A few years later Van Tieghem (2), in his inaugural 

 thesis, presented to the " Faculty of Sciences of Paris," considered the 

 cause of ammoniacal fomentation to be due to the action of micrococcus 

 (ySfhci-ical globules') ^ which arranged themselves in long chains (strep- 

 tococci) . 



Tw^elve years later (1S76) Pasteur (3) recognized streptococci in 

 decomposed lu-ine, but says : " They must not be confounded with the 

 ferment of urine, which they resemble in the diameter of their grains. 

 The ferment of urine is formed of couples de grains^' (diplococci) . 

 Whether or not the streptococcus of Van Tieghem and the diplococcus 

 of Pasteur are identical we will not attempt to decide. The crude con- 

 dition of bacteriology at that time will admit of their being considered 

 identical species, notwithstanding the discre2oancies in the original de- 

 scriptions. Professor Leube and P. Miquel have considered them as 

 belonging to the same species. 



Iir 1S79 P. Miquel (4) isolated a rod-shaped germ from decomposed 

 urine, which, when introduced into sterile urine, would cause it to 

 undergo ammoniacal fermentation. He gave it the name of Bacillus 

 urea. 



Six years later ( I SS5) Professor W. Leube (5) published an article upon 

 " The Ammoniacal Fermentation of Urine." in which he describes 

 three rod-shaped germs and one micrococcus isolated from urine and a 

 sarcina from the saliva that would transform urea into carbonate of am- 

 monia. The rod-shaped germ first described he called jBacterhim urea. 

 The other two are not specifically named other than by number. The 

 micrococcus he considers to be the same as the one studied and described 

 by Pasteur and Van Tieghem. 



Fliigge (6) describes a micrococcus that was isolated in his labora- 

 tory and which produced the same effect on urine as the micrococcus 

 described by Pasteur. On account of its power to liquefy gelatine it was 

 called Alicrococcus urea liquefaci?zas. 



In 1889 P. Mique (7), in an article on "Ferments of Urine," de- 

 scribes six bacilli (Bacillus urea cr, B. u. /J, B. u. ;', B. s, B. o, and B. />), 

 five micrococci (Micrococcus urea f, M. u. /S, M. u. 7', M. u. ^, and M. 

 u. s). and one sarcina (Sarcini cc), which would transform urea into car- 

 bonate of ammonia. The Bacillus urea /5 is the same as that described 

 by him in 1879, and he considers it the same as the Bacterititn urea of 

 Leube. He quotes from several investigators who have conceded to him 

 the priority in the discover}' of this bacillus. The micrococcus urea w is 

 the same as the micrococcus urea of Leube. and is supposed to be the same 

 as the micrococcus studied by Pasteur and Van Tieghem. The sarcina 

 is the same as that described by Leube. To summarize, we have as 

 oi'ganized ferments of urine already described six micrococci (Pasteur's, 

 Fliigg's, and Miquel's) , seven bacilli (eight of Miquel's Bacillus urea 



