1887 .] 
Dr A. B. Griffiths on Micro-Organisms. 
99 
examination with high powers, that the salicylic acid solution had 
acted upon the form of cellulose forming the external wall of these 
lowly organisms, perforating it, and ultimately destroying the life 
of the organisms. 
During the last nine months I have turned my attention to the 
action of this salicylic acid solution upon other living micro-organisms. 
First of all, I may state that when the above quantity of sali- 
cylic acid was added to 1000 c.c. of sterilised wort, and then pure 
cultivations of Mycoderma aceti were introduced into the wort 
contained in an ordinary two-necked Pasteur’s flask (fig. 1), no 
change took place in it, not even after a month had elapsed, and 
the vessel kept all the time at the most suitable temperature 
Fig. 1 . — Pasteur’s Two-Necked Flask. 
(32° to 38° C.) for the life-history of the organism. After a month 
had passed, a small quantity of this wort was transferred (with all 
physiological caution) into a second Pasteur’s flask containing 
sterilised wort minus the salicylic acid. No change was observed 
in the least, not after the elapse of a month. I experimented in 
a like manner with Bacillus butyricus , Bacterium lactis , and 
obtained similar results. From these experiments, and my previous 
microscopical studies, I draw the conclusion that the salicylic acid 
solution is an antiseptic agent destroying these low micro-organisms. 
In the case of Bacillus butyricus , I found that the said salicylic 
acid solution not only destroyed the organism, but its spores as 
well. My friend, Mr W. L. Gadd, F.C.S. (Principal Chemical 
Assistant to Dr W. Thomson, F.R.S.E., of the Royal Institution, 
Manchester), writes me that recently he has examined “ a sample of 
