442 BOTANICAL GAZETTE | DECEMBER 
THE PREVALENCE of tubercle bacilli in market butter has been made the 
subject of especial investigation of late by a number of workers. Groening? 
and Obermiiller,” working independently, have found that a large percentage 
of samples of butter are able to pruduce in guinea pigs pathological lesions 
that were similar to tuberculosis. Smear preparations made from the dis 
tissues showed the presence of bacilli that reacted toward stains in a manner 
similar to the tubercle organism. Groening found in eight out of seventeen 
cases, bacilli that he identified as tubercle bacilli, although in this determi- 
nation he omitted to make cultures and critically study the isolated organism. 
Obermiiller’s results were even more startling, for in every sample examined 
(fourteen in number) tubercle bacilli were found. 
Lydia Rabinowitsch™ has recently made a thorough examination of a 
large number of samples (thirty in Berlin and fifty in Philadelphia) and her 
results throw grave doubts on the previous results mentioned. She finds in 
a considerable number of samples (28 per cent.)an organism able to produce 
in guinea pigs lesions which resemble, microscopically as well as macro- 
scopically, the genuine tubercle bacillus so closely that the two can only be 
differentiated by the aid of cultures. Furthermore, in not a single case were 
tubercle bacilli found which agreed in all particulars with the type descriptions. 
The organism that so closely resembles the true tubercle germ is mildly path- 
ogenic for guinea pigs but not for other animals. Culturally, and in its 
reaction toward tuberculin, it is readily distinguished from Bacé//us tuberculosis. 
These careful investigations render it extremely probable that the results 
of other investigators have been misinterpreted owing to the lack of more 
thorough study of the supposed tubercle organism.— H. L. RUSSELL. 
THE PROCEEDINGS of the Indiana Academy of Science for 1896, just 
issued, bear evidence of a marked botanical activity in that state. Twelve 
papers upon botanical subjects are published in full, while nearly as many 
more appear by title only. As might be expected from the organization of 
a State Biological Survey by the Academy a few years ago, many of the 
papers are in the nature of contributions to the flora of the state. Those 
treating of the spermatophytic flora are Messrs. Stanley, Coulter, Hessler, 
Blatchley, and Chipman. The interesting fact concerning these papers * 
that they indicate in a marked degree the passing of the day of mere lists of 
names, and the beginning of local studies of plants in relation to their sur 
roundings. The paper of Dr. Robert Hessler upon the “Flora of Lake 
Cicott and Lake Maxinkuckee,” and that of Mr. W. W. Chipman upon the 
. “Flora of the lake region of northeastern Indiana,” in their presentation of 
the physiographic conditions of the areas studied, in their indications of 
9Groening, Cent. f. Vet. Viehmarkt. u. Schlachthoflangeleg, 1897, nos. 14-15- 
© Obermiiller, Hyg. Rund. 1897, no. 14. 
——— tet. £, Hyg. 26: 90. 1897. 
