November 12, 1886.1 



SCIEN'CK 



433 



ism from others. The experiments of Hueppe 

 and Beyer appear to have demonstrated that dur- 

 ing lactic acid fermentation the sugar of the mUk 

 is converted into lactic and carbonic acids, and 

 that this process is directly dependent on or caused 

 by the life and growth of a micro-organism which 

 so differs from all others that it may properly be 

 named bacterium lactis. This is a short, thick, 

 ovoid rod, about half as broad as long, from .001 

 to .002 mm. in length. The germ does not liquefy 

 gelatine. It is as yet undetermined whether it 

 forms spores. 



— Professor Cantani some months ago recom- 

 mended the inhalation of a spray consisting of a 

 pure culture of bacterium termo for the cure of 

 consumption. This method of treatment was 

 fully described in the British medical journal some 

 time ago. Dr. FHipovitch of Odessa has recently 

 tried this plan upon six cases of advanced con- 

 sumption. Four of the patients died, and the 

 other two left without having been perceptibly 

 benefited. He came to the conclusion as the result 

 of his personal observation that no good whatever 

 may be expected from the treatment of tubercu- 

 losis by the inoculation of the bacterium termo. 

 In one of the cases the expectoration became more 

 profuse and offensive after the treatment was com- 

 menced, and it is questionable whether harm may 

 not be done by inhaling these bacteria of putrefac- 

 tion. 



— The Medical record is authority for the report 

 that Professor Windle concludes from his re- 

 searches that man's original dentition included six 

 incisors in either jaw ; that two from each jaw 

 have gradually disappeared ; that this loss is due 

 to the contraction of the anterior part of the 

 palate ; that this process of contraction will prob- 

 ably go on and result in the loss of two further 

 incisors, and that the conical shape of many of 

 the supernumerary teeth indicates a reversion to 

 the primitive type of tooth. 



— The sale of nickel-plated cooking-vessels has 

 been prohibited in Lower Austria on the ground 

 that vinegar and other food substances dissolve the 

 nickel, producing a poison. 



— The bacillus of bread-fermentation has been 

 cultivated by Laurent (Bidl. acad. roy. Belg. x. 

 763) and described under the name of B. panificus. 

 The ?pores are found on the surface of grain and 

 remain in the fiour when ground. They develop 

 rapidly in dough, as well as in gelatine, saccharose, 

 and boiled starch, and are capable of withstanding 

 the temperature of boiling water, when not situ- 

 ated within a half inch of the surface of the bread 

 while cooking. The bacilli occur richly in bread, 



and may be found in great numbers in the in- 

 testinal canal. In bread they may attack the 

 starch, converting it into a substance resembling 

 erythrodextrine, and producing a viscosity or 

 heaviness, easily checked, however, by the addi- 

 tion of a quantity of an organic acid. 



— Dr. W. MUller describes in Kosmos the re- 

 markable habits of a Brazilian long-horn beetle 

 (Oncideres) of less than an inch in length, which 

 gnaws off branches, from one to two inches in 

 diameter, of the hard-wooded camphor-tree, for 

 the purpose of inserting its eggs into the twigs, 

 which is done after the branches have fallen to 

 the ground. 



— A successful attempt at crossing wheat and 

 rye is mentioned in Biedermann's Centralblatt. 

 The grain capsules of the wheat were carefully 

 opened, and the stamens removed before they were 

 developed. The pollen from the rye was after- 

 wards placed upon the stigmas, and the whole 

 head carefully tied up. The seeds resulting from 

 this process were planted and readily germinated, 

 producing plants that partook of the characters of 

 both parent forms, though with those of the wheat 

 predominating. Some of the ears had long 

 glumes, while others had short ones. The seeds 

 themselves showed a resemblance to rye, but less 

 than to wheat. 



— A strange effect of light transmitted through 

 a solution of sulphate of quinine upon the blossom- 

 ing of plants has been made known by Sachs. 

 From a series of experiments he has shown that 

 plants germinated and grown under the influence 

 of such light, while thriving otherwise, develop 

 only small, imperfect, and speedily perishable 

 flowers. Light transmitted in a similar way 

 through pure water impaired in no way the 

 blossoming powers. 



— Since the discovery of the independence of the 

 physiological senses of heat, pain, cold, and touch, 

 a special interest has attached to the ascertain- 

 ment of the different ways in which these sensa- 

 tions are transmitted to the brain. Professor Her- 

 zen has recently shown {Arch. sc. phys. et nat. xv. 

 580), from vivisectional experiments, the intimate 

 relation between cold and touch, and that an in- 

 jury to the cortex of the brain that destroys the 

 sense of touch in any region will usually also 

 abolish correspondingly the sense of cold. Acci- 

 dentally, however, in one case, through cutting less 

 deep than he had intended, he found that the 

 sense of cold was abolished while that of touch 

 remained uninjured, proving the ultimate distinc- 

 tion between the brain centres of these two 

 senses. 



