ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
89 
of germs. In dealing with Rhine water this was found to be 0 • 15 per 
cent. It is also pointed out that bacteriological examination should be 
directed less towards the quantity of germs in a given bulk of water 
than to their quality, for it is obviously very important to detect the 
presence of pathogenic and putrefactive bacteria even when a chemical 
analysis may have pronounced it fit for use. 
Distribution of Water-bacteria in large Water Basins.* — Dr. J. 
Karlin ski records some observations made on the bacteria of Lake Borke 
in Bosnia. The physical characters of the lake, its average temperature, 
the composition of the water, are first described, after which some new 
bacteria peculiar to this water are dealt with. A largo number of 
observations were made, and the result of these went to show that there 
is a connection between the depth of the water and the number and 
character of the bacteria at the different levels, and also at different 
distances from the bank. 
Pyosalpinx and Bacteria.!— Dr. Witte states that in two out of four 
cases of pyosalpinx operated on by Dr. A. Martin Bacillus lanceolatus 
Fraenkel was found, and in the third case bacilli resembling those of 
symptomatic anthrax. However, when the latter were inoculated in 
white mice, the animals died with extensive oedema of the subcutaneous 
tissue, and the result was due to the bacilli of malignant oedema. 
In case 4 the contemporaneous presence of staphylococci and of gono- 
cocci in the pus of pyosalpinx is an important discovery, as their co- 
existence has been denied. 
Changes in the Microbicidal Power of the Blood during and after 
the Infection of the Organism.! — It is well known, say Dr. A. von 
Szekely and Dr. A. Szana, that the number of microbes present in 
extra-vascular blood or blood serum is at first diminished, but some 
hours after inoculation an increase is observed, while there are cases 
in which defibrinated blood or blood serum remains sterile in spite of 
the large number of microbes with which it was infected. An analogous 
diminution is found to occur even when bouillon is used instead of 
blood or serum. The germicidal action has, therefore, been attributed 
to the physical property of the medium — namely, its density. While 
admitting the probability that some of the germicidal power of blood 
may be due to its density, the authors refuse to ascribe the whole of 
this power to a mere concentration of the fluid. At present, the chief 
interest in this question is whether the circulating, living blood possesses 
a similar germicidal power to that of extra-vascular blood. The direct 
experimental proof of this is, from the nature of things, difficult, and 
the authors attempt to solve this question indirectly. The position they 
take up at starting is that the microbicidal power is a property of living 
blood, and that if there be any connection between this property and 
the course of the disease, then it must alter directly the germs have firm 
hold of the organism, and also when the organism has victoriously 
withstood the infection. 
* Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xii. (1892) pp. 220-3. 
t Centralbl. f. Gyn., 1892, No. 27. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., 
xii. (1892) p. 266. 
X Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xii. (1892) pp. 61-74, 139-42. 
