836 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



furnishing the oxygen necessary for the metastasis of moulds in an 

 atmosphere destitute of oxygen. Whether free oxygen is present or 

 not, the energy of the metastasis of fungi is increased by the supply 

 of peptone in nearly uniform proportions. Fermentation (or intra- 

 molecular respiration) supports the metastasis of the living organism, 

 iind consequently its life, when there is no free oxygen ; and this 

 explains the rapid death of fungi without evolution of carbon 

 dioxide, in an atmosphere destituto of oxygen, as well as the differ- 

 ence in the duration of life with evolution of carbon dioxide, 

 according to the fermentive capacity of the fungus. When the 

 supply of nutrient material is deficient, the activity of respiration 

 gradually declines, even when oxygen is present, to a very low point, 

 without resulting in the death of the fungus. The intensity of the 

 formation of carbon dioxide by moulds in an atmosphere destituto 

 of oxygen falls with the increase in the acidity of the saccharine 

 nutrient substance, while normal respiration is almost unaffected by 

 this circumstance. 



Protophyta. 



Microbes of the Soil. * — M. E. Laurent has made some experi- 

 mental researches on the utility of microbes of the soil for the 

 growth of higher plants ; he made four sets of observations, with 

 natural soil, with earth sterilized and then inoculated with bacteria 

 of the soil, with sterilized earth, and with the same to which certain 

 chemical compounds were added. The third series was, from 

 every point of view, found to be inferior to the others ; the second 

 gave a few more flowers and fruits than the first. The whole show 

 the utility of microbes in arable land rich in organic detritus. 

 Henceforward, the author thinks, agricultural chemistry will have to 

 occupy itself with the biological properties of the bacteria which are 

 found in the earth. The microbes appear to be of use in decomposing 

 the detritus of dead plants on which their successors live, but which 

 they are unable to assimilate until it has been broken up for them. 



New Pathogenic Micrococcus.! — Dr. L. Manfredi has found, in 

 the sputum of two cases of crupose pneumonia, besides Friedlander's 

 pneumococcus, constantly a micrococcus which presents several dis- 

 tinguishing features; but he has not been able at present to deter- 

 mine any causal connection between it and the disease. The micro- 

 cocci are ovoid, 1 ■ 0-1 ' 5 by • 6-1 • //, in diameter, solitary or united 

 in pairs, less often in chains of three or four. It subsists in all the 

 ordinary vegetable substrata, and it is produced with special rapidity 

 in contact with the air. Its development is intracellular, producing 

 caseous necrosis of the elements. When animals are inoculated with 

 it, it takes possession especially of the spleen and of the lymphatic 

 ganglia ; it possesses intensely infectious properties. 



* Bull. Aoarl. R. Sci. Bclg., Iv. (1886) pp. 128-43. 

 t Atti R. Ac-ad. Lincei, i. (1885) pp. 825-8. 



