144 



NA TURE 



{Dec. 6, li 



sight ; lastly, touch, the transmis ion of which takes 1/21 of 

 a second more than sigtit. — O.i the nervous system aud the classi- 

 fication of the Phylloriocea;, a hitherto little-stndied family of 

 AnnelidiC, liy M. G. Pruvot. — Oi the a'cis of G^tanthm 

 crocata and fistuhsa, and on abnormal ve^etahP; productions in 

 general, by M. K. Gerard. — On the propagition of the earth- 

 qual<e waves caused by the late volcanic eruption at Java, by M. 

 bouquet de la Grye. — A contril>utio 1 to the volcanic theory, by 

 M. Stan. Meunier. 



Berlin 

 Physiological Society, November g. — Dr. Friedliinder two 

 years ago had communicated to the Society how in eight different 

 cases of genuine croupous pneumonia, which ended fatally on 

 the disea-e reaching its height, he had constantly found in the 

 lungs a micrococcu--, mostly in the form of diplocnccus, which 

 seemed to be a characteristic of genuine pneumonia. Since then 

 the ca>es of croupous pneumonia he had examined amounted to 

 over fifty, and with but very few exceptions the same description of 

 cocci had been found in all the lungs affected. The few cases in 

 which pneumonic cocci liiiled to show themselves were regularly 

 such in which death had set in after the eighth day of the 

 disease, that is after the disease had finished its course. In all 

 other kinds of pneumonia, such, for example, as follow in 

 the train of typhus, or attack old persons, &c., diplococci 

 did not appear. It was beyond doubt, therefore, that they wei-e 

 a characteristic of genuine croitpous pneumonia alone. That 

 micrococci had not been perceived by many observers in the case 

 of genuine pneumonia was owing to the fact that it was difficult 

 to make them visible in the tis^ties ; for only vi'hen they were 

 highly coloured while the surrounding tissue remained colourless 

 did they become distinctly visible. To render them apparent 

 it was of advantage to colour thin sections of the lungs with 

 methylic-violet or gentian-blue, and then to apply a diluted solu- 

 tion of iodine by means of which the tissues which were at first 

 also coloured would become clrar and so bring out the strongly- 

 coloured cocci. Quite recently two cases had been published in 

 which pneumonic cocci had been found intra vitain — one case 

 by Prof. Leyden, the other by Dr. Giinther. The latter observer 

 invariably found the cocci inclosed in a pale and sharply-defined 

 envelope, which, on the application of colouring-matter, likewise 

 b'-came highly coloured. Cocci having in both the cases referred 

 to been obtained by means of punction, and thus their presence 

 in the fluid of the lungs demonstmted, Dr. riedlauder set him- 

 self also to ex.amine the fluid of the lungs in the bodies of per- 

 sons who had died from pneumonia, and found there large 

 quantities of pneumonic cocci, which were particularly well 

 adapted for examination, being in a free state. He was now 

 in a position to prove that they all possessed envelopes, which, 

 by their reactions (they came out most distinctly on being sub- 

 jected, to acids, and disappeared under distilled water or an 

 alkali), appeared to consist of mucin, and to be very e.ssenti.al to 

 the life and activity of the cocci. Acccording to the experience 

 acquired down to the present date, the pneumonic cocci were 

 the only ones which possessed this kind of shmy capsule. The 

 problem now presented was, by means of experiments in the way 

 of cultivati m and inoculation, to determine the distinguishing 

 characteristics and the pathogenic nature of these cocci. This 

 task Dr. Friedlander, in conjunction with Dr. Frobenius, had 

 undertaken with positive results. According to the methods of 

 Prof. Koch, the cocci taken from the lungs of persons v\ ho had 

 died fr.im genuiiie pneumonia were disseminated on stifi'ened 

 gelatine (consi-.ting of gelatine, an infusion of flesh and com- 

 mon salt). From these proceeded invariably and in all genera- 

 tions perfectly characteristic organisms distinguished from all 

 other fungous products of cultivation by their peculiar nail-like 

 shape. No other kind of micro-organism showed the same 

 nail-like form under cultivation as did that taken from persons 

 pneumonically affected who had died on the disease reaching 

 Its acme, and whose lungs were afterwards examined ; nor 

 did any other species of pneumonia ever yield this form of culti- 

 vated organism. Experiments in the way of inoculation had 

 been made on mice, guinea-pigs, rabbits, and dogs. The mice 

 were subjected to injections either of cultivated cocci which had 

 been obtained by dissemination of fresh lung-fluid containing 

 cocci. Almost all these mice died after twenty to twenty, eight 

 hours, under symptoms of violent dyspnoea ; and on a section 

 being made, extensive pleurisy and pneumonia were observed 

 in each case ; in the blood, likewise, diplococci were found 

 to be very abundant, as also in the pleural exudations and in the 

 tissues of the lungs. Were the cocci thus found disseminated 



on gelatine, they then yielded the nail-like cultivated organisms 

 already referred to, exactly in the same way as did the cocci of 

 genuine pneumonia in the case of man. Were again these cul- 

 tivated cocci injected into other mice, these mice died of pneu- 

 monia on the second day after the inoculation. If, however, 

 the fluid containing cocci were heated to about 70° C. before being 

 injected into the mice, it was thereby rendered inefficacious, and 

 the mice received no harm from it. On the pleural cavity of the 

 mice being examined, many cocci were indeed still f lund in the 

 fluiri, butw hen these were strewn on gelatine they either remained 

 sterile or developed other than the nail like cultiv.ited .irganisms. 

 Not only, however, by injection of pneumonic cocci through 

 Pravaz's syringe could pneumonia be produced in mice, but like- 

 wise also by means of inhalation. If mice, shut up in a chest, 

 were compelled to breathe an atmosphere saturated by means of 

 a spray with pneumonic cocci, then did a number of the mice 

 die under the same symptoms as followed injection, though 

 in this case not till the fourth or fifth day after the operation ; 

 the blood in the lungs of those mice who had died from experi- 

 mental genuine pneumonia also contained characteristic pneu- 

 monic cocci. The re-ults obtained from analogous experiments 

 in inoculation with guinea-pigs were less decisive. About 

 a half of the guinea-pigs inoculated by means of injection 

 of pneumonic cocci remained in a perfectly healthy state, show- 

 ing that they were proof against cocci. Tlie other half, how- 

 ever, perished of dyspnnea, and their blood, lungs, and pleural 

 exudations were found to contain double micrococci, which 

 being sown on gelatine produced the characteristic nail-like 

 organisms, and on being injected gave rise to pneumonia in the 

 creatures so inoculated. The same experiments were next tried 

 on five dogs. Four of them remained unscathed, but one 

 sickened and died of dyspnoea. On a postmortem being made, 

 this last dog showed symptoms of pneumonia and the presence 

 of the characteristic diplococci in its blood and lungs. In 

 the four healthy dogs, on the other hand, the injected cocci had 

 all suffered destruction. In the ca e of the rabbits the experi- 

 ments ill inoculation were wholly without effect. They showed 

 themselves completely proof against pneumonic cocci, and the 

 cocci injected into their lungs were, after a few days, no longer 

 traceable. From the invariable discovery of diplococci in the 

 iungs of bodies that had died of genuine pneumonia before 

 the disease had run its full course, and from the experiments 

 with cultivated cocci, as also by inoculation of mice, Dr. Fried- 

 lander drew the conclusion that the cocci found by him were the 

 cause of the genuine croupous pneumonia which had also before 

 been recognised as infectious. On a future occasion Dr. Fried- 

 lander will again take up this subject, so important bo'h from 

 a scientific and a practical point of view. 



CONTENTS Pagi. 



The Geology of the Libyan Desert 121 



Applied Mechanics. By A. R. Willis 122 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Meteors.— Donald Cameron ; F.R.S.E. ; W. 



Wickham ; J. B. Oldham ; Henry H. Higgins 123 



" Anatomy for Artists." — Art Student .... 123 



Barytes from Chirbury. — H. A. Miers 124 



The Origin of Coral-Reefs, II. By Arch. Geikie, 

 F. R. S., Director-General of the Geological Survey 



(With Map) 124 



Dr. John Lawrence LeConte. By R. McLachlan, 



F.R.S 128 



The Late Mr. Darwin on Instinct 128 



Porto Rico. By Baron H. Eggers 129 



The Remarkable Sunsets. By Prof, von Helmholtz . 

 F.R.S. ; Miss Annie Ley ; J. Edmund Clark ; J. 

 LI. Bozward ; Antoine d'Abbadie ; Henry Cecil ; 

 E. Brown ; Col. Donnelly, R.E. ; Charles W. 



Harding 130 



Notes 133 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Variable Stars 135 



The First Comet of 179S 135 



The Great Comet of 18S2 135 



The Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Society . 136 



The Java Disaster 140 



University and Educational Intelligence .... 141 



Scientific Serials 141 



Societies and Academies F42 



