ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
531 
the pigment, at first red -brown, soon assumed a dark-green hue, while old 
cultivations of B. pyocyaneus a and /3 developed yellowish-red or greyish- 
red pigment. 
Albuminoid cultivations yielded fluorescing pigment through twelve 
generations, while on yelk pyoxanthin was soon and copiously de- 
veloped. Heating bouillon cultivations up to 37° C. did not seem to have 
much influence on pigment production. On 2 per cent, pepton water 
and on sterilized human saliva, blue pyocyaniu was exclusively produced. 
The virulence of the particular B. pyocyaneus with which the author 
experimented, and which was originally obtained from the middle ear, 
was shown by the death of the animal experimented on. From the tissues 
and juices were obtained cultivations which yielded copious pigment 
formation. 
The author’s own experiments are preceded by a lengthy summary of 
the results obtained by previous observers. 
Influence of the Soluble Products of Staphylococcus pyogenes 
aureus.* — MM. A. Rodet and J. Courmont find that if the soluble pro- 
ducts secreted by Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus be injected into rabbits, 
the sensitiveness of these animals towards the pyogenic microbe is 
increased. 
The simultaneous introduction of this micrococcus and of its soluble 
products hastens the animal’s death, and favours suppuration if the 
former is present in the blood and the latter be injected into the 
tissues. 
The organism retains this susceptibility as strongly after a lapse 
of three months as after two days. Kidney lesions were frequently 
present under these conditions. Filtered cultivations retained this 
favouring property for 20-24 days after filtration, although their toxicity 
diminished. No perceptible influence was observed from cultures of 
different ages. More than 60 animals were experimented on. 
Decolorizing Bacillus obtained from Sputum. t — M. Legrain isolated 
from phthisical sputum a bacillus which possesses in a striking degree 
the faculty of decolorizing solid nutrient media which have been 
stained with anilin dyes. From the experiments carried out, it would 
seem that this bacillus is identical with a species described by Cazal 
and Vaillard in the ‘ Annales Pasteur,’ 1891. This decolorizing poten- 
tiality is intimately connected with the fact that the bacillus imparts a 
strong alkaline reaction to the medium in which it thrives. 
Natural Methods of Elimination of Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus.} 
— A male aged twenty, who for six weeks had been suffering from boils 
on the left forearm, hurt his left knee, but the skin was not wounded. 
The next day there was pain and swelling of knee, and these were 
succeeded by symptoms of suppuration fever, high temperature, profuse 
sweatings, delirium. The knee-joint was opened, and from the exudate 
* La Province Med., 1891, p. 138. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xi. 
(1892) p. 249. 
f Annales de l’Institut Pasteur, 1891, p. 705. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., xi. (1892) p. 56. 
t La Riforma Med., 1891, p. 289. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xi. 
(1892) p. 250. 
2 o 2 
