NOT DESCRIBED IN PREVIOUS SECTIONS. 535 
‘The method followed by the writer in the general bacteriological exam- 
ination of water consists, first, in the preparation of gelatin plates for the 
usual enumeration ; and, second, in the addition to every one of ten fermen- 
tation tubes, containing a one-per-cent dextrose bouillon, a certain quantity 
of water. This is added most easily by first diluting the water, so that one or 
two cubic centimetres are equivalent to the quantity which it is desired to add 
toeach tube. Pipettes graduated by drops are convenient, but not so accurate. 
In case of ground water it is well to prepare in addition a flask containing 
fifty to one hundred cubic centimetres of the water, and an equal, or greater, 
quantity of bouillon, to which sugar is not added. Plates may be prepared 
from this flask after sixteen to twenty-four hours. When gas begins to ap- 
pear in the fermentation tubes, the amount accumulated at the end of eac 
twenty-four hours should be marked with a glass pencil on the tube. From 
these tubes, which contain fifty to sixty per cent of gas on the third day, and 
are very strongly acid, plates may be prepared to confirm the indications of 
Bacillus coli. This, however, is not essential, for the writer has found as 
yet no species having these fermentative characters which is not one of the 
following : Bacillus coli, Bacillus lactis aérogenes, Bacillus enteriditis, Bacil- 
lus typhi murium, Bacillus cholere suis. The three last-mentioned species 
are probably as rare in water as Bacillus typhosus itself. 
“ My own experience coincides with that of Matthews when he states that 
ninety-two per cent of all bacteria in ground water are suppressed in the 
thermostat. While the addition of 0.5 cubic centimetre, or even more, of 
such water may fail to produce cloudiness in any of the series of fermenta- 
pen sae the same quantity, or less, of surface water never fails to infect 
the tubes.” 
Bacillus Coli Communis in Peritonitis.—The researches of A. 
Frankel show that Bacillus coli communis may be obtained in pure 
cultures from the exudate into the peritoneal cavity in a considerable 
proportion of the cases of peritonitis, and there is good reason for 
believing that in these cases it was the cause of the inflammatory 
process. Thirty-one cases were examined by Frankel, with the fol- 
lowing result: Pure cultures of Bacillus coli communis were obtained 
in nine cases; of Streptococcus (pyogenes ?) in seven; of Bacillus 
lactis aérogenes in two; of ‘‘diplococcus pneumoniz” in one ; of 
Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus inone. Of the remaining eleven 
cases, seven gave mixed cultures, and in three of these Bacillus coli 
communis was the most abundant species. The author referred to 
has also shown that pure cultures of Bacillus coli communis injected 
into the cavity of the abdomen of rabbits cause a typical peritonitis. 
The present writer has frequently obtained the same result in experi- 
ments made with this bacillus. It would appear, therefore, that the 
peritonitis which so constantly results from wounds of the intestine 
is probably due, to a considerable extent, to the introduction of this 
microérganism from the lumen of the intestine, where it is con- 
stantly found, into the peritoneal cavity, where the conditions are 
favorable for its rapid development. 
