The American Naturalist. [ January, 
established not only by the microscopic investigation 
but also by the very successful culture experiments. 
Bacillus butyricus was also not to be found.” 
“ Necessary precautions being taken for granted, a 
pure culture is obtained the easiest, when, by means 
of flamed instruments, the epidermis is lifted from a 
diseased but not yet entirely softened spot, a trace of — 
the slime removed from the parenchyma, and the 
same transferred to a nutrient substratum. The ma- — 
terial may be taken just as well from a bulb scale, only 
in this case one must set to work so much the more — 
carefully. Whether we inoculate a liquefied substra- — 
tum directly, or put a trace of the slime in sterile water, 
and inoculate only from this (a very simple method _ 
of dilution, which here leads to entirely satisfactory 
results), we always get on the plate an abundance of — 
the uniform colonies of this bacterium.” | 
(C) Yes.. The inoculation experiments were very suc- | 
cessful. “ If, by means of a needle, an extremely small | ; 
quantity of the bacilli are pricked into the epidermis : 
of a leaf, or of a scape of an otherwise entirely sound — 
hyacinth, the sickening of this part with the described | 
symptoms can usually be observed within 24 hours. — 
The most destructive action takes place around the- 
point of inoculation, over a breadth of about 3 cm. 
Here at first the tissues softens, the part becoming 
transparent. Finally, as a rule, the organ breaks, as 
its tissue, including the epidermis, is changed for the 
specified distance into the characteristic, slimy-v1s- 
cous, rotten-smelling pulp. We obtain the same result : 
when the inoculation is made on a bulb scale. Theim- 
oculated scale first sickens, but soon after the neigh- — 
boring ones also become affected, and the disease 
spreads from this point even into the parts abovè 
ground. The reverse behavior (inoculation of the 
aerial parts, and the spread of the disease into the 
bulb) could not be observed. This circumstance indi- | 
cates, in all probability, that under natural conditions 
