194 
DR. L. WALDSTEIN. 
no Bacteria, tlie sediment dissolving after addition of acetic 
acid ; the degree of acidity had been in all such cases remark- 
ably low. 
I could not so far corroborate the statements of Mr. Bastian, 
and was unable to explain this remarkable divergence from the 
expected result. The disappointment was the more dishearten- 
ing as the repetition of his experiments were made from the 
beginning more with a view to an explanation than as test 
experiments designed to determine the truth of his statement of 
fact. 
There still remained seventeen retorts in the incubator, of 
which some contained mixed and others unmixed fluids. They 
were opened and their contents examined after they had been 
exposed to a temperature of 120° B. (40° — 45° C.) between 
65 to 126 days. They all contained more or less flocculent 
suspensions and a whitish-yellow sediment, which adhered to 
the walls of the retort ; their reaction with rosolic acid proved 
to be alkaline and several smelled of ammonia. One only 
had a putrid odour, and was registered as not entirely without 
blemish. On addition of acetic acid the greater part of the 
sediment, which proved to consist chiefly of amorphous masses 
and of few crystals, was dissolved ; here and there were found 
peculiar zoogloea-like bodies of yellowish tinge and a remarkable 
power of resistance to reagents, the exact nature of which I 
was unable to determine, and which frequently appeared in a 
later series of experiments ; and lastly, every specimen of urine, 
with and vnthout admixture of liq. pot., and such also with 
perfectly clear contents, together with one whose fluid showed acid 
reaction, contained innumerable organisms of various forms. 
Micrococci and small spheroid bodies were most numerous, 
and appeared either as individuals or in torula- and zoogloea- 
form ; together with these, and next in number, smaller rods 
(vibrio), single and in biscuit form, and lastly, variable quantity 
of bacilli of all lengths, free or articulated. These organisms 
showed the characteristic movements, or were grouped together 
in more or less dense masses! In no case was the degree of 
turbidity in direct proportion to the number of organisms, but 
it seemed to stand in relation to the zoogloea after the action of 
acetic acid had dissolved the other suspensions. It follows 
from this that the long-continued action of the incubator tem- 
perature is favorable to the multiplication of Bacteria, even 
when the remaining conditions introduced tend to retard their 
development. In what manner, if in any, the presence of the 
alkali acts as a factor was not thus far apparent, especially as 
organisms appeared where it was not allowed to mix with the 
pabulum just as freely as where it was added. 
