1 78 BACTERIA IN RELATION TO PLANT DISEASES. 



bacteria : Micrococcus cinnabar eus, A planobacter pneumoniae (Weichselbaum) , Streptococcus pyogenes , 

 Bacillus coli, Bacillus prodigiosus, Mycobacterium diphtheriae, Bacillus typhosus, A planobacter anthracis 

 (spores and filaments) and Actinomyces. 



For each one he used two specimens of onions and hyacinths well provided with leaves, and 

 three sorts of cactus. The places where the wounds were to be made were first painted with mercuric 

 chloride, alcohol and ether to destroy the surface organisms, then with a pair of sterile shears the 

 wound was made and through the opening by means of a platinum loop the culture was inserted. 

 The wound was immediately closed, the exuding excess of culture removed with a sterile knife and 

 the wound fastened together with collodion. As a rule the wound healed well. 



After 8 days the infected spots were sampled with a flamed corkborer, their infectiousness 

 tested on animals, and the presence of the organism determined both by cultures and by examination 

 of sections. With the next larger corkborer, a cylinder-mantle was also removed and transferred 

 to bouillon. In the cylinders that were used for inoculations and sections the following organisms 

 were found hving: Aplanobacter anthracis, Bacillus prodigiosus, B. coli, and M. cinnabareus. The 

 following were dead: Streptococcus pyogenes, Mycobacterium diphtheriae. Bacillus typhosus and Aplano- 

 bacter pneumoniae. Actinomyces transferred to agar also failed to grow. The cylinder-mantle, which 

 was about 5 mm. thick, left the bouillon clear. Anthrax was found only in spore form in the plant 

 tissues. These wounds were all superficial. The author then tried whether inoculations into deeper 

 wounds would have any different results. For this purpose he used a needle with which he made 

 deep punctures introducing into them the organism. The general method of procedure was the same, 

 sterilizing the surface and finally covering the wound with collodion. Tests were then made after 

 various periods. Again the anthrax organism was found to have sporulated and the spores were 

 fully infectious at the end of 4 months. The diphtheria organism and the pneumonia germ were 

 noninfectious at the end of 48 hours. The typhoid bacillus at the end of 5 days was non-infectious, 

 and Bacillus coli at the end of 8 days. Micrococcus cinnabareus and Bacillus prodigiosus dried out but 

 remained alive a long time. Streptococcus pyogenes also remained alive, but showed on the ordinary 

 culture media only a slight or weakened growth. The sections showed that the diphtheria organism 

 had taken on involution forms, while the Actinomyces had fallen into a granular detritus. These 

 experiments were made in warm and dry air. 



This author also tried some experiments in moist air, using for this purpose Aplanobacter anthra- 

 cis (spores and threads), and Micrococcus cinnabareus . The inoculations were into buds and the 

 plants were kept in a moist chamber. After some days fungi appeared on the inoculated places and 

 these seem to have quickly killed the bacteria, as the latter could not be recovered in poured-plates. 



Kornauth's conclusions therefore, are just opposed to Lominsky's: "The bacteria introduced 

 into the living plant under favorable conditions as to warmth, exclusion of foreign organisms, etc., 

 have never shown any multiplication and just as little any staining of the inoculated spot (through 

 chromogenic bacteria) or a loss of color of the surrounding tissues. " 



Zinsser's paper appeared in 1897. It deals mostly with the root-nodule organisms of 

 the Leguminosae, but there are also detailed experiments with other bacteria. The work 

 was done in Pfefifer's laboratory. 



Zinsser gives a very interesting table showing the behavior of various bacteria when introduced 

 into plant tissues. In one instance Bacillus prodigiosus yielded cultures after remaining in a bean 

 stem 96 days. In general. Bacillus subtilis, B. megaterium. and B. prodigiosus were most resistant, 

 being frequently found alive in the stems and leaves of various plants after 14 to 48 days. Other 

 organisms were destroyed more speedily. Zinsser also inoculated animal pathogenic forms into 

 plants. He experimented mostly with Aplanobacter anthracis. This lived in various plants such as 

 beans, Cyclamen, Abutilon, Sempervivum, and Barbacenia from 14 to 28 days. In several cases it was 

 dead after 27 to 28 days. Even the more resistant species did not multiply extensively or behave 

 like parasites. All lost their ability to grow after a longer or shorter period and perished. Concern- 

 ing their spread in the tissties the author says: 



"Now and then according to the microscopic appearance the injected bacteria appeared to have 

 multiplied for a short time, and they were able also to penetrate into the neighboring tissue, but this 

 power of translocation is not great, for even a few centimeters away from the point of inoculation 

 I could not afterwards demonstrate bacteria. " 



The following notes are from Hartleb's paper: 



Hartleb, who worked in Stutzer's laboratory in Bonn, states (1898) that he experimented with 

 the bacteria of the foot and mouth disease, using their organism and Siegel's organism. The inocu- 

 lations were made into the stems of beans, Vicia faba, potatoes, and peas. He also inoculated pods 



