348 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
neutralised filtrate by further acidulation, and this again purified by 
filtration and precipitation with 60 per cent, spirit. 
A greater amount was obtained by boiling the residue which 
remained on the filter after treatment with caustic potash. Injection 
of the filtrate caused a rise of temperature in both healthy and tuber- 
culous guinea-pigs, and in the latter a local reaction as well. From 
this filtrate a white deposit was precipitated by 60 per cent, alcohol, 
which induced a slight general reaction and well-marked local reaction 
in tuberculous guinea-pigs, while healthy animals were scarcely at all 
affected. 
Rhinoscleroma protein caused a similar but less marked reaction. 
The last remains on the filter were treated with alcohol and ether, the 
filtrate evaporated, and the residue injected into white mice, but this 
exhibited no toxic properties. 
The total quantity of albuminous matter amounted to about 23 per 
cent, of the tubercle- bacillus mass employed, and six kinds of albumen 
were obtained. 
Adaptability of Bacteria to Unfavourable Temperatures.* — 
Herr A. Dieudonne has made some interesting experiments with bacteria 
relative to accustoming them to grow on artificial media at unfavourable 
temperatures. Instead of sudden and immediate change, the principle 
of gradual transition stages was adopted, and chromogenous bacteria were 
the organisms experimented with. Four series made with Bacillus 
fluorescens putidus, Bacillus lactis eryihrogencs , Bacillus pyocyaneus , and 
Micrococcus prodigiosus, showed that pigment bacteria were able to accom- 
modate themselves to unfavourable temperatures if the transitions were 
gradual. A pathogenic bacterium too, anthrax, became acclimatised to 
high temperatures when cultivated under similar conditions. 
For experiments on animals the cold-blooded frog and the warm- 
blooded pigeon were selected, partly because they were relatively 
immune to anthrax, and partly because there is considerable difference 
between their body temperatures. Cultivations made at 37° ’5 and at 
12°, when injected into frogs, showed that the latter had more influence 
than the former ; while the experiments with pigeons were not attended 
with such striking results. 
Bacterial Gummosis of Beetroot.t — Herr P. Sorauer states that the 
beetroot crops in some parts of Germany are affected by the disease 
which attacked rape plants in Slavonia in 1890. The lower ends of 
the plants become black, while from the undiseased portions of the 
surface exudes a gummy fluid which contains bacteria, yeasts, and fungi. 
In the earlier stages, or less diseased portions, section of the root shows 
collections of gummy fluid along the vascular bundles. The bacteria 
were short rodlets, sometimes forming chains, diplococci, and micro- 
cocci. In the beetroot, while the vessels are blackened, the intervening 
portions are pale. The author considers that this gummosis is a con- 
stitutional disorder due to bacteria, affecting individuals or perhaps 
certain races and breeds. 
* Arb. aus Kaiserl. Gesundheitsamte, ix. (1894) pp. 492-507. 
t Blatter f. Zuckerriibenbau, 1894, No. 9. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Para- 
sitenk. (2 e Abt.), i. (1895) pp. 295-6. 
