54 HISTORICAL NOTES ON BEE DISEASES. 
spores of Bacillus alvex. When he inoculated gelatin, agar, or bouillon 
with some of this ropy larval mass, no growth took place and when he 
used larve which were more recently attacked, the same failure to 
obtain a growth was observed. He took these facts to mean that 
there is something present in the foul-brood larve which prevents, by 
its antiseptic property, the growth of the bacteria. He proceeded, 
therefore, to inoculate a considerable quantity of sterile bouillon, in 
order that the supposed antiseptic present might be diluted, thus per- 
mitting the germination of the spores. By following this technique 
a growth was obtained and he interpreted it to be the growth of the 
spores which he had observed microscopically in such large numbers 
in the diseased brood. 
The bacillus which he thus obtained he isolated in a similar manner 
from a large number of samples of ‘‘foul brood,” and by a study of 
its morphology and cultural characters Lambotte identified it as 
being the one described by Cheyne as Bacillus alvet. Furthermore, 
he studied the morphology and cultural characters of a number of 
cultures of Bacillus mesentericus, and by a comparison of these with 
those of Bacillus alvei he reached the conclusion that the two are 
very similar. 
To show more conclusively that Bacillus alvet and Bacillus mesen- 
tericus are very similar, Lambotte made use of the phenomenon of 
agglutination. Guinea pigs were used in his experiments. In 
immunizing the animals he used a suspension of an agar culture of 
Bacillus alvei and Bacillus mesentericus, respectively, in physiological 
salt solution. In each case the animal received four inoculations at 
weekly intervals. He reports that the serum of an untreated guinea 
pig did not exhibit, upon examination, the phenomenon of agglutina- 
tion. The serum of a guinea pig, on the other hand, which had been 
treated by inoculations with Bacillus alvei, agglutinated a culture of 
this species at a dilution of 1 to 350, and the serum from the same ani- 
mal agglutinated cultures of Bacillus mesentericus at a dilution of 1 to 
250. Furthermore, the serum of a guinea pig that received the inocu- 
lation of Bacillus mesentericus agglutinated Bacillus mesentericus as 
well as Bacillus alvei at a dilution of 1 to 250. Neither of these two 
sera agglutinated any other bacilli at these dilutions. This caused 
Lambotte to conclude that Bacillus alvei and Bacillus mesentericus 
vulgaris are the same species. 
Having convinced himself that this very intimate relation exists 
between Bacillus alvei and Bacillus mesentericus vulgaris, he at- 
tempted to prove by the inoculation of healthy colonies that foul 
brood could be produced with cultures of Bacillus mesentericus. He 
killed some of the larve by pricking them and placing a suspension 
of Bacillus mesentericus in the cell with the dead larve. He hoped 
