ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 697 



Spontaneous attenuation of virulence was only observed in a few 

 cases. Pasteur used as his first vaccine, material which had been 

 kept for 24 days, and as his second, material which had been kept for 

 12 days at 42 '-4 3° C. The authors used as their first vaccine, material 

 of 24 days, which did not kill rabbits or wethers, but killed mice 

 regularly, and as their second, material which killed mice and guinea- 

 pigs, but did not kill rabbits with certainty, and was quite inert on 

 wethers. Further, a third and fourth vaccine were used. Still two out 

 of five wethers died after inoculation with virulent material ; rabbits 

 and guinea-pigs could not, as a rule, be rendered proof against the 

 disease. The authors have arrived at the conclusion that vaccination 

 is only a very doubtful gain as a preventive measure. 



Cholera Bacillus.* — Dr. H. E. Bigelow mentions that out of six 

 guinea-pigs inoculated in the duodenum by Babes, three presented 

 the lesions of cholera ; and pure cultivations of the bacillus of Koch 

 were obtained from the intestinal contents. Koch has just introduced 

 a new method of operation without the production of any external 

 lesion, and he reports the cases as completely confirming the view of 

 the pathogenic nature of the bacillus. The method of staining the 

 bacillus in the tissues adopted by Babes consists in cutting thin 

 sections in close proximity to a Beyer's patch, placing them in an 

 aqueous solution of fuchsin for 24 hours, washing in sublimate 

 solution (1-1000), passing rapidly through alcohol and oil of 

 cloves, well drying with blotting-paper, and mounting in Canada 

 balsam. 



Curved Bacilli in Air and Water, f — In the present state of 

 confusion which exists as to the exact role which Koch's comma 

 bacillus plays in cholera, any information on the subject of curved 

 bacilli is of interest. 



M. J. Hericourt finds that curved bacilli, some of the same type 

 as the cholera bacillus, are present in all water, no matter what its 

 source. The constant presence of these organisms can only be 

 explained by supposing the existence of their germs in the air, in 

 which they are present in the spore condition. Neutral bouillon and 

 potatoes were sterilized and inoculated with dust from various places, 

 and many curved bacilli developed in all the cultivations. They 

 showed all the described forms, commas, curves, omega, S, spirals, &c. 

 Intestinal dejecta in simple diarrhoea, dysentery, and typhoid fever, 

 broncho- pulmonary secretions in all diseases of the lungs, pus exposed 

 to the air, the saliva of healthy and sick persons, were all found to 

 contain curved bacteria, often in much greater number than other 

 fonnH of bacteria. Collected first on bouillon or cooked potato, and 

 then cultivated on nutrient jolly, these curved bacilli form rounded 

 colonies with serrated edges, composed of highly refractive granules. 

 These colonies, kept at 20'^-22 ' C., grow in the jelly and liquefy it, 

 producing colonies of the shape of a gloved finger. 



• Sciciioe, V. C188.'j) pp. 4.')4-.'> (P> flps.)- 

 t ComptcH licudus, c. (1885) pp. 1027- 'J. 



