662 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
bacillus urese pyogenes , &c. &e.) When injected into the urinary tract 
of dogs it sets up general disturbances aud alterations in the urine 
(presence of pus-cells). These symptoms are, however, transitory, and 
after a few days all morbid phenomena have disappeared ; the bacteria, 
however, continue to exist in the urinary tract. B. lactis aerogenes is 
widely disseminated, is met with in urine allowed to stand, as well as 
in that passed incontinently, and is probably the cause of the gaseous 
condition observed in diabetic urine. 
Anaerobiosis of Bacillus coli communis.* — M. M. Ide finds from 
experiments made with B. coli communis that this micro-organism 
developes with difficulty in the absence of air in a medium consisting of 
meat-extract and pepton. 
Directly, however, oxygen is supplied multiplication becomes abun- 
dant. Hence oxygen is an important consideration for the development 
of B. coli communis , but it may be replaced, and that with advantage, by 
glucose. A combination of oxygen and glucose naturally results in the 
maximum development. 
Production of Fat Pigment (Lipochrome) by Bacteria.f — The ob- 
servations of Dr. A. Overbeck on the production of lipochrome were 
made with Micrococcus rhodochrous, a fission fungus isolated from the 
stomach of a goose, and with Micrococcus erythromyxa isolated from water. 
The author’s observations are in a sense the extension of those researches 
made by Zopf on Bacterium egregium, the lipochrome of which is a 
yellow pigment called by Zopf bacterioxanthiu, to distinguish it from the 
mycoxanthin and the anthoxanthin of the higher fungi. 
M. rhodochrous was found to grow best on a medium composed of 
10 per cent, gelatin, 2-3 per cent, meat extract, 2 per cent, sugar, and 
0*2 per cent. NaCl, but it was from the cultivations on potato that the 
p'gment was most conveniently obtained. The pigment, the hue of 
which varied somewhat according to the cultivation medium, was soluble 
in carbon sulphide, petroleum ether, chloroform benzol, ethyl and 
methyl alcohol. By careful evaporation of the solution, a reddish-yellow 
greasy substance with a fatty smell was obtained. 
That this substance was lipochrome was shown by saponifying with 
caustic soda, separating the soap with salt, and extracting the pigment 
with petroleum ether. Examined spectroscopically, the purified 
pigment gave an absorption band lying about F. The author after 
discussing the micro- and macro-chemical reactions of the pigment, 
alludes to the experiments showing that the pigment formation is inde- 
pendent of light, and that it is unaffected by the quality of the light. 
This micro-organism does not liquefy gelatin, nor peptonise albumen. 
It seems to grow best at ordinary temperatures. 
With regard to Micrococcus erythromyxa , it may be said that while 
this micro-organism has much in common with M. rhodochrous , it has 
several distinguishing features, the most prominent being that it can 
produce two kinds of pigment, one a lipochrome, and the other a yellow 
amorphous pigment, soluble in water, while another is that of exciting 
the lactic acid fermentation. 
* La Cellule, vii. (1891) pp. 325-44. 
t Verliandl. K. Leopol.-Carol. Deutsch. Akad. d. Naturf., Iv. (1891) pp. 399-417 
(1 pi.). 
