634 SUMMARY OF CURUENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



may bo used ; the spores then detach themselves, and arc coloured deep- 

 blue, the cells of the fermout being rose-coloured. 



Symbiosis of Bacteria with Gloeocapsa polydermatica.* — Dr. A. 

 TomasclKik replies to Kroufeld's criticism f on his previous i)apcr on 

 this subject. Although the symbiosis is not of so intimate a character 

 as that which takes place in the union of an alga and a fungus or 

 Schizomyceto to form a lichen, it is nevertheless quite distinct from true 

 parasitism. Ho maintains the identity of the bacterium with Bacillus 

 muralis. 



Presence of a Phlogogenous matter in the Cultures of certain 

 Microbes. I — M. S. Arloiug states that there exist in the nutritive media 

 in which microbes have been artificially cultivated certain toxic sub- 

 stances capable of reproducing more or less exactly the symptoms of the 

 malady caused by the microbes. M. Pasteur foimd these poisons in tho 

 cultures of the active principle of chicken-cholera, and M. Charrin in 

 those of Bacillus pyocijaneus. The properties of this phlogogenous 

 substance show some interesting peculiarities. It manifests its maximum 

 activity at a temperature of 80^. It still possesses a noticeable influence 

 when it has been submitted to a temperature of 110^ for a quarter of an 

 hour. Finally, its effects do not operate with the same intensity on tho 

 various domestic animals on which it has been tried. 



Chrome-aromatic Microbe.§ — M. Galtier describes the properties 

 of a microbe obtained from the ganglia of a young pig. 



Cultures were made on agar, gelatin, and potato, and at the end of 

 twenty-four, thirty-six, or forty-eight hours, a yellowish-green colour 

 was observed ; this colour gradually became deeper, and was slightly 

 different with the different materials used. The cultures of this 

 microbe were also aromatic. The odour which was exhaled was very 

 pronounced, and was an odour sui generis, strong, but rather agreeable. 



Sarcina of the lungs. || — Herr G. Ilauscr records the interesting 

 discovery of tho endogenous formation of spores in a micrococcus. It 

 occurs in a Sarcina obtained from tho lungs in pneumomycosis, consist- 

 ing of cocci always united in groups of 2 or 4, instead of 8, as in 

 Fischer's pneumomycosis-sarcina. It forms on gelatin patches of a 

 pearly-grey colour, extending over tho surface, but not liquefying the 

 gelatin. Certain isolated cells contain, at a particular moment, strongly 

 refringent corpuscles, at first surrounded by a membrane which 

 gradually gelifies, and sets the corpuscles at liberty. In this state they 

 present the properties of ordinary spores. These spores are readily 

 demonstrated by heating the preparation in an aqueous solution of 

 fuchsin, and decolorizing by sulphuric acid of 25 per cent. ; the spores 

 alone resist the decolorization ; they may then be re-stained by methylene- 

 blue._ They can be heated to 110" C, without destroying their power of 

 germinating even after the lapse of three years. 



New Pathogenic Microphyte in Men and Animals. IF— Dr. G. 

 Bordoni-Uffreduzzi relates a case in which the post-mortem appearances, 



» OesteiT. Bot. Zcitschr., sxxviii. (188S) pp. 134-G. Cf. this Jom-nal, 1887, p. 785. 

 t See this Journal, 1887, p. 996. 



X Comptes Rendus, cvi. (ISt^S) pp. 1365-8. § Ibid., pp. 13GS-70. 



II Muncbener Mod. Wochenschr., 1887, p. 545. See Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xxxv. 

 (1888), Rev. Bibl., p. 5. 



% Centralbl. f. Bacterid, u. Parasitenk., ii. (1887) pp. 33-4. 



