ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
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plague corpses, there can be constantly found a bacillus which reproduces 
in animals a disease closely resembling plague. In the blood of plague- 
patients the presence of the plague bacillus is not constant. It may be 
often found in the urine and bile of plague corpses. Insects, such as the 
flea and mosquito, are capable of transporting it. It is constantly pre- 
sent in the blood and viscera of rats naturally or artificially infected 
with plague. Fleas found on plague rats often contain virulent plague 
bacilli. The blood, lymphatic glands, and other organs of plague patients 
and corpses, may contain various other bacteria as well as plague bacillus. 
The plague bacillus is but little resistant to antiseptics such as 5 per cent, 
carbolic acid, one per thousand sublimate, or even strong lime-water. 
Direct sunlight killed an agar-culture after an exposure of four hours. 
Inoculation experiments on animals seemed to show that the soil of 
plague-districts was not infected. 
Spirillum Maasei.* — Dr. H. J. van’t Hoff isolated from the Rotterdam 
Waterworks a choleroid organism which has the following characters : — 
It has two or more turns ; it liquefies gelatin with extraordinary rapidity, 
and the colonies are round and transparent. Milk is not coagulated, nor 
bouillon acidified. On liquid medium a scum is formed sooner or later. 
There is no gas production. The indol reaction is quite like that of 
cholera. The spirilla are short and thick, 1-1*15 fi ; these have one or 
two flagella, and are mobile. The spirillum is virulent to guinea-pigs. 
Septicaemia of Calves.f — Prof. M. Thomassen describes a new sep- 
ticaemia of calves which is associated with nephritis and urocystitis. 
The disease, which lasts about five or six days, is marked by considerable 
enlargement of the spleen, and by parenchymatous nephritis and cystitis. 
From the blood, the peritoneal fluid, and from various organs, a bacillus 
closely resembling in appearance the bacillus of typhoid or B. col . com. 
was isolated. From the latter it is distinguished by its great mobility, 
by its moist-looking growth on potato, by its slow growth on gelatin, by 
almost negative production of indol and carbonic acid, by its inability 
to ferment lactose and to coagulate milk, and by the absence of a dis- 
agreeable odour when cultivated in pepton-bouillon or on gelatin. From 
the bacillus of typhoid it is distinguished by the serum reaction ; for 
although typhoid serum agglutinates the bacillus of calves’ bacteriseraia, 
the agglutination effect is much less strongly marked, and is different in 
character. 
Two Chromogenic Microbes from the Mouth.J— Dr. Arpad R. v. 
Dobrzyniecki describes two micro-organisms found in the mouth: — 
(1) Micrococcus latericeus is about 1 yu, in diameter, is devoid of move- 
ment, and has no special arrangement. It grows slowly in bouillon, 
the medium becoming cloudy, and after 2—3 days a granular brick-red 
sediment appears at the bottom of the culture-vessel. On gelatin plates 
rose-coloured colonies develop. The gelatin is not liquefied. On agar 
a similar growth develops. The micrococcus is easily stained, and is 
not pathogenic. (2) Bacillus luteus is found in carious teeth. It is a 
* Centralbl. Bakt. u. Par., l te Abt., xxi. (1897) pp. 797-8. 
t Aim. Inst. Pasteur, xi. (1897) pp. 523-40. 
X Centralbl. Bakt. u. Par., l te Abt., xxi. (1897) pp. 833-5. 
