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SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
the normal diameter, are found. On milk-sugar gelatin the colonics are 
round, characterised by concentric circles, white at first, but later 
becoming brown in centre. When inoculated in sterilized milk at 28 - 
30° coagulation sets in from 30-36 hours, the casein at first separating 
in flakes, forming later on a consistent or homogeneous mass. The 
reaction of the milk is markedly acid, caused by the presence of lactic 
acid. The action of the organism on cheese was tested by making hard 
and soft cheese from milk infected with M. Sornthalii ; as soon as the 
temperature rose to 17°-20° the cheeses exhibited fermentation pheno- 
mena, and numerous bubbles and cavities appeared. 
Pyobacterium Fischeri.* — Dr. H. Kiittner describes a pyogenic 
organism isolated from an abscess in the abdominal wall. Though much 
resembling B. coli commune , it is distinguished therefrom by a number 
of characters. It is slimmer, grows more slowly, the colonies are pure 
white, and the movements lively. It coagulates milk, though slowly, 
ferments sugar solutions, and forms acid in meat solutions. One special 
characteristic is its power of forming in liquid media nitrous acid as well 
as indol, a property which has hitherto been only observed in vibrios 
and a few other organisms. Experiments on animals showed that 
Pyobacterium Fischeri is a pure pyogenic organism and is pathogenic to 
mice, guinea-pigs, rabbits, and pigeons. When introduced into serous 
cavities and into the circulation the animals soon die of septicaemia. On 
intramuscular or subcutaneous injection it leads to suppuration, and the 
formation of crusts of matter which recall the croupous or diphtheritic 
processes. In large doses death results from septicaemia before pus 
can form, but in small ones the disease is slow and abscesses form. 
Immigration of Cholera Vibrios into Hens’ Eggs-t — The results of 
Ilerr Wilm’s experiments on the immigration of cholera vibrios into 
hens’ eggs are that the vibrios are able to pass through the shell into the 
egg, taking at least 15-16 hours to do so: the immigration is all the 
more certain and the greater, the less the infecting material be exposed 
to drying, and the fresher and fuller of vibrios it is. 
Besides the cholera vibrio other bacteria, e. g. Bacterium coli commune 
and some water bacteria, can pass through egg-shell. Eggs containing 
cholera vibrios retain for about four or five days their normal character ; 
they then become cloudy and begin to smell of sulphuretted hydrogen. 
Cholera may be acquired by eating infected eggs, and the disease trans- 
ferred by means of infected shells on which the vibrios are viable for 
4-5 days. Eggs boiled longer than two minutes a're not poisonous. 
The virulence of the cholera vibrios is increased in eggs. 
Decomposition of Hen’s Egg by Vibrios.^ — For studying the de- 
composition products of the egg, Herr Grigoriew used Vibrio cholerx 
asiaticee , V. MetschniJcovi, V. Deneke, V. aquatilis , and V. Finlcler -Prior. 
The yolk of eggs inoculated with the cholera vibrio became green in 
* Zeitsclir. f. Hygiene, xix. p. 263. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., 
l te Abt., xvii. (1895) pp. 760-1. 
t Arch. f. Hygiene, xxiii. (1895) pp. 145-69. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., l te Abt., xvii. (1895) p. 892. 
X Areh. f. Hygiene, xxi. (1894) p. 142. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Para- 
eitenk., l te Abt., xvii. (1895) pp. 885-7. 
