850 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Cultivations in carbonic dioxide and sulphuretted hydrogen did not 
appear to diminish the virulence of the micro-organism, at any rate to 
any great degree. Acid reaction of the medium does not prevent the 
growth and development of the bacterium, even when 2*5 per thousand 
lactic acid was present, nor are its pathogenic properties diminished by 
this reaction. 
Streptothrix Cuniculi.* — Herr Schmorl relates that at the patho- 
logical institute of Leipzig an epidemic broke out, causing the death of 
twenty-eight rabbits which were kept together. The cause of death was a 
micro-organism found in all the organs, and usually as a pure cultivation. 
The malady was marked by necrosis beginning on the lip and rapidly 
spreading to the subcutaneous tissues, by fibrinous inflammation of the 
serous membranes (pleura, pericardium, peritoneum), and also by 
inflammatory changes in the lungs. In these places a thread-like 
bacterium belonging either to Leptothrix or Cladothrix was present. 
Pure cultivations in blood-serum showed that it was an obligatory 
anaerobe. Inoculation experiments on rabbits with the pure cultivations 
reproduced exactly the same disease phenomena and the same micro- 
organism. Besides rabbits only white mice were susceptible, guinea- 
pigs, dogs, cats, pigeons, and fowls being refractory. 
In man and guinea-pigs the micro-organism would only thrive 
provided that suppuration bacteria have already created a suitable 
cultivation soil. Hence it may be assumed that Cladothrix Cuniculi is 
non-pathogenic to man and guinea-pigs. 
Streptococcus conglomeratus. | — Herr Kurth gives a long description 
of a coccus which he has isolated from a considerable percentage of 
scarlet fever cases, Streptococcus conglomeratus. 
Though the author’s work is chiefly occupied with this microbe, it 
also deals with streptococci generally, and with those found in scarlet 
fever more particularly, the object of the investigation being to find 
diagnostic characters for discriminating the various species. By culti- 
vation in bouillon streptococci were found to grow in three different ways, 
and to give rise to different forms of deposit, and these deposits also 
corresponded with different appearances in the microscopical prepara- 
tions. Cultivations in gelatin were found to afford a diagnostic criterion 
as regards the minimum temperature, most streptococci at 16°-17° giving 
visible evidence of growth in 2-3 days, while St. conglomeratus did 
not show any development till the sixth day at least. St. conglome- 
ratus is fatal to mice, though the length of time it takes to kill is very 
variable. The length of time during which different species of strepto- 
cocci remain viable in bouillon varies much, some lasting for months, 
while others, among which is St. conglomeratus, are not inoculable after 
10-20 days. 
Streptococcus conglomeratus is recognized as being a distinct species 
possessing a strongly pathogenic action, but beyond the suspicious 
frequency with which it has been found in scarlet fever cases, a causative 
connection between this microbe and the disease has not been made out. 
* Deutsche Zeitschrift f. Thiermedizin, 1891. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., xi. (1892) p. 666. 
t Arb. K. Gesundheitsamte in Berlin, vii. (1891) p. 389. 
