11-1 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



that its peculiar shaped chaiu-likc groups and occasional wavy 

 filameuts distinguish it completely from otlicr bacteria. His views 

 and those of Koch arc also in accord in regard to the difference be- 

 tween the cholera bacillus and those of Lewis and Finklcr and Prior, 

 lie subsequently exhibited * some pure cultures of the latter's 

 microbes and showed that they were totally different in their ex- 

 ternal form from those of the comma bacillus. He also exhibited a 

 number of photographs, and quotes the following passage of Bien- 

 stock f in connection with the statement that it is impossible to 

 establish the identity of two micro-organisms simply from the 

 resemblance of their morphological characters : — " In bacterial ob- 

 servations culture and not the Microscope is the important point. 

 The Microscope is principally only an accessory checking apparatus. 

 It gives exact information only in the study of the development of the 

 micro-organisms, but in regard to their morphology it is an uncertain 

 guide, and in physiology generally of no use at all." 



Bacillus of Cattle Plague. | — Metzdorf has observed a distinctive 

 Bacillus in the blood of animals which died of the disease ; it was 

 also observed in the coats of the intestinal canal and the lymphatic 

 glands. The microscopic examinations were made on the bodies 

 immediately after death, so that there could not be any question of 

 putrefactive germs. 



Cultivated 'Wine-Yeast.§— The true wine ferment on the skin of 

 the grape requires a considerable time and a comjiaratively high 

 tcmperatiu'c for its development ; and before it attains its full activity 

 other ferments and moulds develope and produce secondary fermen- 

 tations which impair the quality of the wine. A. Eommier finds, 

 however, that if the fresh must is mixed with a suitable proportion of 

 cultivated wiue-ycast (about 15 cc. per kilo.), fermentation takes 

 place rapidly, even at temperatures as low as 15^-22^, and is complete 

 in about seven days. If the must is mixed with sugar, the latter is 

 entirely decomposed ; but in this case complete fermentation requires 

 a much longer time. The rapidity with which the principal fermen- 

 tation takes place under these C(mditions prevents the development 

 of the secondary ferments, and thj quality of the wine is much 

 improved. The low temperature at which fermentation takes place, 

 and the short time required for its completion, render this method 

 especially valuable for the 2)roduction of white wines. 



Preservation of Alcoholic Ferments in Nature.]] — L. Boutroux 

 has made a very large number of observations for the purpose of 

 determining the mode in which the si^ecies of Saccharomyces which 

 always accompany the decay of ripe fruits are perpetuated and 

 projjagated. 



* Bull. Soc. Belg. Micr., xi. (1884) pp. 50-63. 

 t Zeitschr. f. Klin. Med., viii. (1884) Heft 1-2. 



X Bied. CcDtr., 1884, pp. 419-20. Journ. jCbem. Soc— Abstr., xlvi. (1884) 

 p. 1398. 



§ Compte3 Rcndus, xcviii. (18S4) pp. 1594-6. 



II Ann. Sci. N;it. (liot.), xvii. (1884) pp. 144-209 (4 pis.). 



