HARRISON, DECEMBER, 1900. 51 
One polar flagellum (p. 56) does not apply to Bacillus alvei. A 
heavy, tenacious pellicle does not suggest Bacillus alvei. The lique- 
faction in five days of the surface gelatin in tubes containing this 
medium does not suggest Bacillus alvei. The surface growth on 
agar, which Harrison describes as resembling ‘‘seaweed,’’ is not 
encountered in the study of Bacillus alver. These last three cultural 
characters are observed, however, in members of that group of 
bacteria of which Bacillus A (p. 76) is a member. 
Harrison: used cultures which he identified as Bacillus alvei in per- 
forming a number of laboratory experiments bearing directly upon 
_ the treatment of foul brood. His object was to determine the anti- 
septic value of various drugs for this species. The results obtained 
by this method of testing the antiseptic value were reported for weak 
solutions of salicylic acid, camphor, thymol, carbolic acid and tar, 
creolin, eucalyptus, beta naphthol, naphthalene, and formic acid. 
In doing this the drug to be tested was added to agar. The agar 
was inoculated with a pure culture of the organism, and observations 
were made as to whether a growth took place on this medicated 
medium. 
Harrison gives the results of experiments in which he used two 
colonies of bees to test the value of naphthol and formic acid in the 
treatment of foul brood. The results which he obtained, however, can 
have only a relative value in treatment, since the organism with which 
he worked has most likely no etiological relation to any disease, or 
at least an unimportant one. Harrison had reached the conclusion 
that considerable attenuation in cultures of B. alver may take place 
by its prolonged growth on artificial media. Since old cultures on 
this ground might be objectionable, he used, in his experimental 
inoculation, cultures which were only three generations from the 
diseased larvee. 
The further technique, in the carrying out of his experiment,. 
involved the feeding of the spores from cultures to each of two 
healthy swarms placed side by side. The spores were scraped from 
‘the surface of an agar slant, put into 10 cc. of water, and well shaken. 
This suspension was then poured into medicated sirup. One colony 
was fed sirup containing the spores of B. alver and one-third of a 
erain of beta naphthol to 1 liter of the sirup. The other colony was 
fed sirup containing the spores of B. alver to which about 1.8 cc. of 
formic acid to a liter of sirup had been added. In both cases the 
medicated and inoculated sirup was taken up readily by the bees. 
The feedings were continued for three weeks, feeding four times per 
week. Each colony received in this way the growth from 12 agar 
slants. During the feeding period the combs containing the brood 
were examined, but no typical symptoms of the disease appeared. 
Cultures of B. alvet were obtained, however, from different parts of 
