888 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
6 mm. The bulb should then be flattened out so that its thin sides 
are not more than 2-3 mm. apart. This apparatus is sterilized and 
used in much the same way as the former, and its only disadvantage is 
that it must be broken in order to isolate a colony. 
Capsule for Cultivating Anaerobes.* * * § — Dr. L. Kamen describes a 
neat little contrivance for cultivating micro-organisms, which he has 
used very successfully in experiments with tetanus. It consists of a flat 
circular glass capsule, the side of which forms a broadish edge, on 
which the cover, of equal diameter, rests. In the edge are cut out, on 
opposite sides, two narrow grooves with a slope towards the bottom of 
the capsule. In the cover are two small holes. 
The apparatus is easily manipulated. After having been filled with 
some cultivation medium in the usual manner, the margin of the cover 
and the flat edge of the capsule are smeared with vaselin, and the two 
adjusted so that the holes in the cover are over the oblique grooves. 
The apparatus is then filled with gas (H ; C0 2 ) which replaces the air 
by driving it out at the opposite opening. When filled the cover is 
just slipped aside so that a hermetically closed cavity is immediately 
made. 
Three illustrations are given, one showing the upper surface, and 
the two others sections of different portions. 
Cultivating Gonococcus.| — According to Herr E. Wertheim, Gono- 
coccus can be easily cultivated if human blood serum be used. The 
serum is solidified by adding sterilized gelose to it. From these culti- 
vations typical gonorrhoea was excited in the human urethra (five 
cases). The gonococcus retains its virulence for some weeks provided 
it be protected against desiccation. It thrives better in absence than in 
presence of oxygen. 
Inoculation experiments on animals showed that it was capable of 
exciting peritonitis, although different kinds of animals evinced unequal 
degrees of susceptibility. 
Sig. A. Risso! succeeded in cultivating gonococci, from a recent case 
of gonorrhoea, on placenta blood serum, both with and without the 
addition of agar or gelatin. Inoculations with pure cultivations in the 
anterior chamber of the eye of a rabbit gave positive results. 
Pure Cultivations of Tubercle Bacilli from the Human Corpse. § 
— Dr. Wiinschheim states that he succeeded in obtaining pure culti- 
vations of tubercle bacilli by using some pia mater from a case of acute 
tubercular meningitis. The cultivation medium was blood-serum, and 
three out of five were successful. 
Isolating a Rennet Ferment from Bacteria-cultures.|| — Prof. H. W. 
Conn has succeeded in separating the rennet ferment from the proteolytic 
* Central bl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xii. (1892) pp. 296-8 (3 figs.). 
f Prager Med. Wochenschrift, 1891, Nos. 23-4. See Annales de Micrographie, 
iv. (1892) pp. 359-60. 
X La Riforma Medica, 1892, No. 118. See Oentralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., 
xii. (1892) p. 205. 
§ Prager Med. Wochensehr., 1892, No. 25. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., xii. (1892) p. 205. 
|| Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xii. (1892) pp. 223-7. 
