210 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [September, 



rabbits. The blood was withdrawn from the carotids and received 

 into steriUzed vessels heated np to 35° C, and then defil)rinated with 

 sand. In the result it was found that while the various kinds of bac- 

 teria did not behave in the same way, yet a great number were found 

 to be quickly destroyed by the blood influence. Of the pathogenic 

 species, which were found to be susceptible to this blood power, were 

 the bacteria of cholera Asiatica, anthrax, typhoid, and pneumonia, and 

 of the Saprophytes, Coccus aquatiUs^ Bac. acidilactici^ subtilis^ Me- 

 gathermni. On the other hand, Staphylococcus au7-eus, albus^ Strep- 

 tococcus erysipelatis^ bacilli of fowl cholera, sv/ine plague, Proteus 

 vulgaris^ homijiis^ B. Jluorescens^ prodigiosus aquatilis. and others 

 multiplied with great facility. The power of killing bacteria possessed 

 by the blood is also influenced by certain conditions and reagents ; thus, 

 it' heated for half an hour to 54°-56° C, it loses it, as is also the case 

 if allowed to stand for some hours, or if its coagulability be affected as 

 by the intravenous injection of pepton, or by admixture with sulphate 

 of magnesia. 



Moreover, the quantity of micro-organisms has great influence on 

 the result, the annihilating influence of the blood being only able to 

 prevail up to a certain extent ; when this point is reached the blood be- 

 comes quite a perfectly suitable medium for their development. 



The author concludes from the foregoing experiments, and also from 

 others made with horse's blood, that the power of the blood to over- 

 come bacteria is to be regarded as a destructive property residing in 

 the plasma, but he does not explain if there be any reason to suppose 

 that there exists a definite separable constituent of the plasma which is 

 capable of producing this eflect. — Zcltschr. f. Hygiene vi, heft 3 ; 

 /. R. M. S., 1S90, p. 225. 



Bacterium phosphorescens, — In discussing the origin and causa- 

 tion of the light emitted by Bacterhim phosphorescens^ Dr. K. Leh- 

 mann observes that there are two obvious possibilities to be considered. 

 First, the illumination may be a vital phenomena accompanied by the 

 production of COo, heat, &c. Secondly, it may arise from the oxida- 

 tion of a photogenous substance excreted by the cells, and resembling 

 the pigment formation of many chromogenous species. This photogen 

 must therefore be very sensitive to chemical reagents. In favor of the 

 former view are the following facts : Cultivations when emitting light 

 always contain illuminant bacteria, and in this condition can always be 

 successfully cultivated. All germicidal media destroy the illumina- 

 tion. Lastly, in correspondence with the great resistance B. phospho- 

 rescens shows to low temperatures, the illuminative power is preserved 

 at similarly low temperatures. In association with this is to be counted 

 in the fact that while development diminishes with increased temper- 

 ature, so also does the emission of light. 



These facts seem to show that the light emitted by the fungi is always 

 associated with their vitality, and is therefore not reconcilable with a 

 photogenic property unless the latter has ascribed to it all the charac- 

 teristic of a living plasma. — Biologischcs Centralblatt, ix, 1SS9, pp. 

 479-So. 



Nasal Bacteria in Influenza.— Ezra H. Wilson, M. D., read a 

 paper before the Brooklyn Pathological Society, February 13, 1S90, in 



