ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
659 
rapidly changed into a viscid mass, but the stringiness was not so 
marked a feature as with the M. Freudenreichi'.. It is a distinctly 
aerobic organism, only just growing in an airless environment, but it 
can accommodate itself to various degrees of temperature. This or- 
ganism appears to be endowed with the power of converting cream of 
sterilized milk into butter, a change effected by the ferment action, 
while pasteurized milk, i. e. milk heated to 69° for 20 minutes, becomes 
stringy in 14 hours. B. Ressii appears to be a pure saprophyte and has 
no pathogenic action. 
Both these new organisms are easily destroyed by heat and other 
disinfecting methods. 
Bacteriology of Influenza.* — Sig. A. Bruschettini took 5-10 ccm. 
of blood from a brachial vein during the height of the febrile stage. 
The blood was received into sterilized test-tubes and incubated at 37°. 
In this way copious cultivations which were easily grown when trans- 
ferred to other media were obtained. On gelatin and bouillon a moderate 
development took place in presence of air at 37°, while if the air 
were excluded the growth became luxuriant. In bouillon a clouding due 
to formation of minute flakes at first occurred, but as these deposited on 
the bottom the fluid became clear. The growth on glycerin-agar 
resembled that described by Kitasato, but afterwards the colonies ran 
together, forming a thin, moist, shining, greyish overlay. Similar results 
were obtained by Dr. K. Markel, who found that the influenza bacillus 
developed in fluid agar ; by the fourth day a delicate cloud appeared 
on the surface and grew gradually downwards. 
This author injected rabbits with influenza blood, and the animals 
became feverish and died on the fifth day. In their blood were found 
crowds of ovoid bacilli, and these were afterwards cultivated on artificial 
media. If a healthy rabbit be injected with the blood of an animal 
dead of the disease it will live, thus showing a weakening of the bacillus 
by passing through a rabbit. 
Dr. A. Pfuhl f has isolated from several cases of pure uncomplicated 
influenza a small micro-organism which tends to group itself in pairs, 
though chains of several or numerous individuals could be observed under 
a 1/12 immersion. These bacilli were obtained from perfectly fresh 
sputum which had been roughly filtered to get rid of the coarser par- 
ticles, no attempt being made to separate the buccal from the respiratory 
secretion. Cover-glass preparations were easily stained with .Neelsen’s 
solution, but Gram’s method failed. Little success was obtained from 
examining the blood ; only in one instance did the author discover a few 
bacilli between the red discs, and he thinks that examination of the 
blood is less trustworthy than that of fresh sputum. 
A micro-organism resembling that obtained from sputum was 
cultivated on 5 per cent, glycerin-agar, whereon it formed small dewy 
looking colonies. Bouillon became cloudy in 24 to 48 hours, but there 
was ill success with gelatin and potato. By means of Canon’s method 
several micro-organisms developed after incubation at 37°. Some of 
these, e. g. Staphylococcus aureus and a Sarcina , were obvious impurities, 
* La Riforma Med., 1892, No. 23. Casop. Lek. Cesk., 1892, c. 6. See Cen- 
tralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xi. (1892) pp. 412-3. 
t Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xi. (1892) pp. 397-100. 
2 y 2 
