678 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
uneasiness in tlie minds of cattle-owners in Queensland. He finds that 
the disease is due to a microbe which passes a large part of its life in 
the body of the cattle-tick. The results of the invasion of this parasite 
are perhaps most strikingly seen in the blood, which becomes very thin 
and watery, owing principally to the disintegration of the red blood- 
corpuscles, and their rapid absorption by the spleen, which is seen to 
be enormously enlarged in cattle that have died of the disease. The 
microbes vary in form in different blood-cells. They primarily appear 
as minute oval-shaped bodies, usually in pairs, though sometimes singly. 
The smallest of them scarcely exceed 0* * * § 5 fx in length, while the largest 
are about 2*5 /X. Mr. Pound’s cultivation experiments have not as yet 
been successful. 
Bacteria in Caterpillars.* — Herr K. Eckstein has made experiments 
to ascertain the effect of infecting healthy caterpillars. The infection 
materials were eighteen species of bacteria, two of which were cocci. The 
author found that Bacillus B. Hofm. and Bacterium monaclise v. Tub. are 
identical, and that this species is pathogenic to most caterpillars which 
can be infected by inoculation or by feeding. B. lineatus and aureus 
also showed themselves to be pathogenic under certain conditions. 
B. flams and M. vulgaris were harmless parasites. The different 
species of caterpillars were found to be unequally sensitive to bacteria, 
e. g. Porthesia auriflua appeared to be immune to B. monachse and 
B. aureus. Though the experiments were made towards the close of 
the Nun-disease, the results obtained lead to the conclusion that 
B. monachse v. Tub. may, under conditions not perfectly determined, 
set up the Schlaffsucht in the caterpillars of the Nun. 
Bacillus Mori.f — Under this name Dr. P. Yoglino describes a new 
micro-organism which causes black spots on both sides of the leaf of the 
mulberry. The microbe has a pathogenic effect on the silkworm, pro- 
ducing flaccidity in the larva. The following is the diagnosis of Bacillus 
Mori sp. n. : — Baculis cylindraceis, apicibus rotundatis 0 * 9-1 * 5 fx 
longis, 0 • 2-0 • 6 /x latis, lente mobilibus, nunquam in filamenta con- 
nexis, numerosissime consociatis. 
Suppurative Pleomorphic Microbe.J — Dr. Garten records an instance 
of chronic suppuration, having the clinical aspect of actinomycosis, 
from which, on bacteriological examination, a pleomorphic organism was 
isolated. The author calls it Cladothrix liquefaciens 2. It is an aerobe, 
easily cultivated in the usual media, and inoculations on rabbits and 
guinea-pigs gave positive though only slightly virulent results. 
Tubercle Bacillus in the Foetal Umbilical Vein.§ — MM. Bar and 
Benon injected blood coming from the placental portion of the umbilical 
vein of five children, the mothers of whom were tuberculous, into the 
* Zeitschr. f. Forst. u. Jagdw., xxvi. (1894) pp. 3, 228, 285, and 413. See 
Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., l te Abt., xviii. (1895) pp. 292-3. 
t ‘ Ricerche int. alle macchie nere d. foglie del gelso,’ Casale, 1894, 13 pp. and 
5 figs. 
X Deutsche Zeitschr. f. Chirurgie, xli. Nos. 4 and 5. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. 
u. Parasitenk., l te Abt., xviii. (1895) pp. 287-8. 
§ Semaine Med., 1895, No. 34. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., 
l te Abt., xviii. (1895) p. 286. 
