ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 695 



The bacillus could not be grown on meat-jelly or potatoes, but on 

 blood-serum at 37^ C. it formed within three days, whitish, opaque 

 colonies, which did not liquefy the serum. The bacilli are of about 

 the same length as the tubercle bacillus, but about twice as thick ; 

 they are generally more darkly stained and slightly thickened at the 

 poles. A definite spore-formation was not observed in the cultiva- 

 tions. 



A variety of animals were inoculated with the pure cultivation, 

 and in some an appearance was produced at the seat of inoculation, 

 e. g. the formation of a false membrane on the tracheal, conjunctival, 

 and vaginal mucous membrane, which closely resembled the local 

 appearances in man. 



Herr Loffler also found on the surface of a condyloma a bacillus 

 which possessed a great resemblance, both morphologically and as 

 regards its pathogenic action, to the bacillus of diphtheria of calves, 

 and gave rise to diphtheritic infection in rabbits. 



Bacteria.* — Herr L. Brieger in a previous paper described the 

 method by which he obtains pure cultures of bacteria from human 

 faeces ; the sample was placed in a sterilized half-litre flask in which 

 water had been long boiled, shaken up so as to be finely divided ; SO- 

 SO c.cm. of the mixture was then placed in a shallow dish containing 

 200-300 c.cm. of Koch's peptonized gelatin, slightly warmed, the 

 contents mixed by agitation, the dish covered with another of larger 

 size, but inverted, and so closed as to prevent the entrance of bacteria 

 from the air, and the whole arrangement covered with a bell-glass. 

 The arrangement was kept at ordinary chamber temperature ; after a 

 short time micrococci made their appearance in different places, and 

 the species could be isolated. In a previous paper, the author 

 described the bacteria which decompose carbohydrates, and also a 

 coccus which produces ethyl-alcohol from both grape- and cane-sugar, 

 but is not dependent on the last two for its existence, as it also lives 

 on albumen, white of egg, serum-albumen, and fibrin ; it has not, 

 however, the power of liquefying those substances, nor does it produce 

 any chemical change in them at any temperature. A bacillus is also 

 described which forms irregular concentric rings on Koch's gelatin, 

 and which, when injected into guinea-pigs, kills them instantaneously ; 

 it has not the power of decomposing albumen ; it is a remarkable 

 feature of this bacillus, that when left a long time in the nutritive 

 matter its central portions assume a yellowish-white colour caused by 

 an incrustation of salts — no matter whether cultivated on carbo- 

 hydrates or albumen, at high or low temperatures ; when injected 

 into the blood of guinea-pigs it is injurious, but rabbits and mice are 

 not affected ; its action on sterilized grape-sugar at 36-38^ produces 

 propionic acid. 



Other species of bacteria have been obtained by the author from 

 faeces, but are not described. 



Experiments were also made with the coccus which hus been 



• Zeitschr. PliyHiol. Chem.. ix. (Ib85) pp. 1-7. See Journ. Chom. Soo. — 

 Abbtr., xlviii. (1885) pp. ."iTh-SO. 



2 Z 2 



