376 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
on some micro-organisms an inhibitory effect, on others the growtlr 
appearances were characteristic, in other cases the addition appeared to 
have little or no influence. The author gives a table showing, the 
results obtained by cultivating Bacterium coli commune and Bacillus 
typhosus in these media. 
Cultivation Media containing Egg-Yolk.* — Dr. Nastiukoff prepares 
three kinds of nutrient media in the following way: — 
(1) Egg-yolk solution : 1 litre of distilled water plus 0 * 5 ccm. 10 per- 
cent. solution of caustic soda plus 100 ccm. of egg-yolk. The yolk is 
freed from any albumen by Bunge’s method (filtration through blotting- 
paper). The 10 per cent, yolk solution is placed in a flask and steamed 
for about 2 hours, and then, having been allowed to stand for a day, is 
filtered. The filtrate is distributed into test-tubes and sterilised in the. 
usual way. The fluid is clear, and by transmitted light yellow ; by 
reflected, greenish. 
(2) To 300 ccm. of yolk are added 100 of 1 per cent, caustic soda solu- 
tion and 600 distilled water, the ingredients (the latter two having been 
previously sterilised) being stirred the while with a glass rod. The 
30 per cent, yolk solution inay be at once distributed into test-tubes and 
heated in a water-bath to 75°-85°. Even at 75° the solution solidifies, 
without impairment of its transparency, and by repeatedly heating to 
85° it is sufficiently sterilised. 
(3) To 1 litre of the 10 per cent, yolk solution are added — 15-20 
ccm. agar or 80-100 gelatin, and the whole boiled until it is com- 
pletely dissolved. The thick opaque mass is filtered through a hot-water 
filter. Or the ordinary neutral agar or gelatin in equal parts may 
be mixed with the egg-yolk solution, the mixture evaporated down to. 
one-half by boiling and afterwards filtered. Before filtering it is better 
that the fluid stand for about 2 hours in the steamer, in which the steri- 
lisation is afterwards performed. Thus prepared the medium 
' resembles very much the ordinary agar or gelatin. 
According to the author, these media are excellent for influ- 
enza bacilli, gonococci, diphtheria bacilli, glanders, typhoid, 
cholera, and other pathogenic micro-organisms. 
Simple Method for cultivating Anaerobic Organisms in, 
Liquid Media.f — Dr. Ad. Schmidt finds that a simple test-tube,, 
into which a bent glass tube fits through the intermediation of a 
caoutchouc plug, is an excellent apparatus for making anaerobic 
cultures in liquid media. The test-tube should be made of thick 
glass and hold about 30 ccm. The tube should be about 15 cm. 
long, and its long arm fits into the plug, the lower end being 
a few mm. above the bottom of the plug. After the test-tube 
is filled with some medium, the plug is put in and the fluid rises 
into the glass tube (see fig. 66). The apparatus is then sterilised, 
and should, owing to evaporation, the media sink down, more 
of the fluid must be put in. The apparatus is inoculated by 
carefully removing the stopper. The author says the apparatus works 
very well. 
* Wratsch, 1893, No. 3, pp. 33 and 4. See Centralbl. f. Eakteriol. tu Parasitenk.„ 
l e Abt., xvii. (1895) pp. 492-3. 
y Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., l e Abt., xvii. (1895)’pp. 460-1 (1 fig.). 
