228 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
with Petri’s modification, and found that with a rapidity of 1 litre a 
minute, 3/4 to 4/5 of the bacterial contents of the inspired air were 
deposited in the nasal cavity or its neighbourhood. 
Increased Virulence of Vibrios.* — M. N. Gamaleia has discovered a 
method whereby increased virulence can be imparted to certain microbes, 
for example, Vibrio Metschnihovi, and Koch’s cholera vibrio. Eabbits, 
which are but little sensitive to V. MetschniJcovi, cannot be infected by 
intravenous injection, but if the vibrio be injected into the lungs the 
microbes from the pleural exudation are found to have acquired toxic 
properties. The toxicity is first shown by the diminution of the 
duration of illness, i.e. for equal volumes of infective fluid (2 ccm.). 
The animals die in two hours or even one, with the customary post- 
mortem aj)pearances : intestines distended with fluid, exfoliated epi- 
thelium, presence of numerous vibrios, pale spleen, haemorrhagic pleural 
exudation, and vibrios in the heart’s blood. 
Eendered thus virulent, the vibrios kill otherwise immune fowls, 
sheep, and dogs, while in rabbits they set up a disease resembling a 
septicaemia. 
The increased virulence disaj^pears if the vibrio be bred outside the 
body, and indeed inside, for tbe virulence seems to be limited to the 
pleural exudation, not being found in the vibrios from the blood. It was 
also found that high degrees of virulence could be obtained by the com- 
bination of ordinary vibrios and the sterilized poison of the virulent 
vibrios. 
Exactly parallel results were obtained with the white rat and the 
cholera vibrio. Hence the author concludes that it is possible to obtain 
an increase of virulence in the bodies of refractory animals, and that this 
possibility or predisposition to infection, as it is called, consists of two 
factors — the “ predisposition humorale ” and the “ predisposition cellu- 
laire.” In the former the juices of the body are susceptible in a greater 
or less degree to the influence (and multiplication) of the virus and the 
formation of toxines ; in the latter the cell-elements betray a greater or 
less tendency to a local reaction. 
Antiseptic and Germicide Action of Creolin.j — Van Ermengem, 
as the result of his experiments with creolin, states that he considers it 
to be an antiseptic of the first rank. The germicidal effect of creolin 
was tested with typhoid stools and micro-organisms of suppuration ; 
and though its action was somewhat interfered with by the presence of 
serous and albuminous fluids, 5 per cent, solutions gave most satisfactory 
results. These, therefore, and also on account of their non- irritating 
properties, are to be preferred to carbolic acid or to sublimate solutions 
acidulated with tartaric acid. 
In 5 per cent, solution creolin is found to be a certain and prompt 
disinfectant. In addition, its deodorizing and antiseptic properties, as 
well as its safety and the ease with which it is manipulated, give it a 
high place among disinfectant deodorizers. 
* Armales de I’lustitut Pasteur, 1889, p. 609. Cf. Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., vii. (1890) pp. 75-6. 
t Bull, de I’Acad. Royale de Med. de Belgique (ser. iv.). iii., No. 1. Cf. Centralbl. 
f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., vii. (1890) pp. 75-6. 
