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SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
partaken of the creams and of the cheese were seized with vomiting and 
diarrhoea and other symptoms of toxin poisoning. Though greatly resem- 
bling B. coli communis , it is distinguished therefrom by the absence of 
the indol reaction ; it coagulates milk more quickly ; the agreeable 
ethereal odour of milk cultures of the ice-cream bacillus is not developed 
by the coli bacillus in the same medium ; on carrots, onions, and some 
other vegetables the ice-cream bacillus grows quickly and develops an 
acid smell. Milk stained with rosolic acid is more quickly decolorised 
by this bacillus than by B. coli com . The ice-cream bacillus is patho- 
genic to guinea-pigs, rabbits, cats, dogs, mice, and rats, and its virulence 
is increased by passage through animals. The toxin was not isolated. 
Spontaneous Coagulation of Milk.* — Dr. G. Deichmann states that 
he has discovered a coccus which, from frequent observations, he believes 
to be one of the causes of the spontaneous souring of milk. In some 
samples it is quite as numerous as Bacterium lactis acidi. This discovery 
will serve to explain the presence of optically inactive lactic acid ; for, 
while B. lactis acidi produces recto-lactic, the coccus forms lsevo-lactic 
acid, so that by a combination of the two latter the inactive acid results. 
Though the two bacteria are not unlike in form and size, they are dis- 
tinguished, not only by the difference in their products, but also by the 
fact that the coccus forms gas. 
Agglutination Phenomenon in Glanders.f — Mr. A. G. R. Foulerton 
states that agglutination of the glanders bacillus can be brought about 
by contact with a serum, (1) from a case of active infection by the 
glanders bacillus, (2) from active infection of typhoid bacillus, (3) from 
a horse immunised against diphtheria. No such action is manifested by 
either normal human or equine serums. On reversing the experiments, 
it was found that a certain though decidedly less active agglutination of 
the typhoid bacillus was caused by both antidiplitheritic and glanders 
serums. Thus the serum reaction in glanders as an aid to clinical 
diagnosis is extremely doubtful ; and the foregoing results suggest that 
the absolute specificity of serum agglutination in different diseases has 
yet to be proved. 
Agglutination Phenomenon and the Cholera Vibrio.^ — From a 
series of experiments made with the cholera vibrio, Dr. A. Taurelli 
Salimbeni finds that the agglutination, as far at least as this microbe is 
concerned, is produced exclusively outside the organism. Agglutination 
was not observed either in the subcutaneous tissue or in the peritoneal 
sac of animals which had been actively or passively immunised. In 
another series, in which the serum and vibrios were mixed together in 
vitro and in vacuo, it was found that the tubes remained unchanged, 
while in control tubes in contact with air the ordinary agglutination 
took place. 
Biological Status of Bacillus Tuberculosis.§ — Mr. A. C. Jones sug- 
gests that the so-called tubercle bacillus is really a stage in the life- 
history of some higher form of fungus with a definite mycelial growth, 
and that it would be more appropriately designated Tuber cidomyces. 
* Centralbl. Bakt. u. Par., 2 te Abt., ii. (1896) pp. 777-80. 
t Lancet, 1897, i. p. 1201. X Anu. Inst. Pasteur, xi. (1897) pp. 277-86. 
§ Rep. 66tli Meeting Brit. Ass., 1896, pp. 1015-6. 
