1050 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



result in the production of any unorganized ferment; the decom- 

 position of albuminoids which they bring about must, therefore, be 

 regarded as the direct work of the bacteria. 



Influence of the Sun on the Growth and Activity of Bacillus 

 anthracis.* — M. S. Arloing finds that the " vegetability " or power 

 possessed by the sporulated mycelium or the free spores to give rise 

 to a fresh mycelium of Bacillus anthracis is rapidly suppressed by the 

 rays of a July sun, when the culture is fresh ; if the sun's rays exert 

 their influence for less than two hours vegetability is simply sus- 

 pended ; the rays of influence seem to be those that are luminous, and 

 these are efiective in proportion to their intensity. These results cor- 

 roborate generally those that were gained by experiments with arti- 

 ficial light. The author points out that the sun is destructive to 

 pathogenic germs, and suggests that the spores are not as resistant as 

 we have been lately led to believe. 



In a second communication f the author reports that the solar rays 

 are not as destructive of cultivations already set in progress ; at the 

 same time he believes himself warranted in concluding that solar 

 light can attenuate the virulence of cultivations of this bacillus, and 

 convert them, as surely as heat, into a series of vaccine-cultures. Ifc 

 still remains to be discovered whether the attenuation is or is not 

 inherited. At least, it is certain that light is a very potent biological 

 agent with minute organisms. 



Cholera Bacillus. | — Drs. Finkler and Prior have recently pub- 

 lished the results of some further investigations made by them on 

 the comma bacilli of cholera asiatica and of cholera nostras, and 

 while no longer maintaining their identity, they refute the notion that 

 gelatin cultivations of these two bacilli at the same age show marked 

 differences in appearance. They consider that both these comma 

 bacilli are vibrios which form genuine spirilla. The two vibrios are 

 similar in all stages, and their behaviour under cultivation almost 

 identical ; the diflerence chiefly consisting in the greater energy of 

 growth and vitality of the vibrio of cholera nostras. The vibrios show 

 marked resistance to drying and variation of temperature, and very 

 probably have a resting-stage similar to that of other micro-organ- 

 isms. Both vibrios are pathogenic, but this property is greater for 

 the vibrio of Koch than for that of Finkler and Prior. • All animals 

 are not affected by these bacilli, which are pathogenic only under 

 certain conditions. The susceptible animals and the conditions for 

 producing positive results are the same for both vibrios. Though the 

 symptoms have a great similarity to those of Asiatic cholera in man, 

 they cannot be said to be specific, as other infectious materials and 

 chemical poisons produce the same symptoms. 



The causal connection between these two bacilli and the two 

 diseases in which they occur is rendered probable by their constant 

 presence, but is not made certain by inoculation experiments. Both 



* Comptes Eendus, ci. (1885) pp. .511-3. f Ibid., pp. 535-7. 



} Erganzuugshefte z. Ccntralbl. f. AllgTinein. Gesimdheitspflege, 1885. 



