240 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
ated action of bacteria, and the tropical, wLich has certain peculiarities 
in its clinical and anatomical aspects. This form is probably excited 
by the co-operation of a definite species of amoeba with bacteria. 
Chicken-Cholera in Australia.* * * § — Mr. C. J. Pound reports the dis- 
covery of chicken-cholera in Australia. The birds (ducks and fowls) 
had died with the symptoms and phenomena of Septicsemia lisemorriiagica u 
The blood was fatal in about 14 hours to rabbits and mice. The bio- 
logical characters of the isolated organism are, that it docs not spore, is 
non-motile, is aerobic, the colonies on gelatin at 70° F. are at first white 
and spherical, afterwards becoming yellowish and irregular in shape. 
On potato, at incubation temperature, the growth is yellowish and waxy 
looking ; growth in beef-broth is rapid, the medium becoming turbid,. 
As the organism was found to be so fatal to rabbits, the author advised 
that cultures should be used for the purpose of destroying these rodents ; 
and the report to the Government of Queensland mainly deals with the 
methods of cultivating the microbe and of employing the disease for 
the destruction of rabbits. It also deals with the transmissibility of the 
disease, the practical working of the scheme, and contains reports of 
a large number of experiments with chicken-cholera on domesticated 
and wild birds and animals. 
Microbial Origin of Baldness.} — Dr. L. Wickham describes how 
Sabouraud, who has been occupied with the subject for three years, dis- 
covered that alopecia areata and seborrhcea are probably due to the: 
action of the same organism, a bacillus, which, cultivated on acid gly - 
cerinised gelose, gives brick-red colonies. The mechanism of the process 
appears to be that the bacillus invades the hair-follicle, exciting sebor- 
rhcea , in consequence of which the papilla atrophies, and, pari passu, the 
hair. Experiments made with the toxin of the seborrhcea bacillus, 
obtained by filtration from cultures in liquid media, showed conclusively 
its specific action. 
Differentiation of Diphtheria from Pseudo-Diphtheria Bacilli.} — 
Dr. L. de Martini, who has been trying to obtain a practical test for 
differentiating the true diphtheria bacillus from the organism which so 
closely resembles it, started with two types of non-virulent bacilli, one 
of which (a) acidified neutral bouillon, while the other (b) rendered this 
medium distinctly alkaline, and that within 24 hours. On ordinary 
liquid serum, bacillus a grew well, but in liquid diphtheria serum, not at 
all. Bacillus b did badly in both. Both a and b, and also virulent 
diphtheria bacilli, grew well on coagulated ordinary and diphtheria 
serums at 70°. The author infers from the foregoing that there is the 
greatest probability that the type a was a degenerated form of the diph- 
theria bacillus, and that type b must be regarded as a pseudo-diphtheria 
bacillus. 
Spirillum Obermeieri and Relapsing Fever Blood.§— Dr. J. Tictin 
records some observations he made with the blood of relapsing fever- 
patients. Attempts were made to keep the spirillous blood at room tem- 
* ‘ Report relating to the Microbes of Chicken-Cholera,’ Queensland, 1897, 22 pp. 
and 3 figs. f Brit. Med. Journ., 1897, i. pp. 1028-30. 
X Centralbl. Bakt. u. Par., l ,e Abt , xxi. (1S97) pp. 87-S. 
§ Tom. cit., pp. 179-86. 
