ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
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and humidity as well as the action of the micro-organisms of the soil. 
(4) On the surface of the soil and exposed to dampness and the sun 
they perish rapidly. (5) Frequent alternations of humidity, especially 
when considerable, diminish the duration of life of typhoid bacilli. 
(6) In those parts of the soil which are penetrated by the roots of 
plants, the duration of their life is very short. (7) Bodies dead of 
typhoid fever undergo during putrefaction a considerable elevation 
of temperature. (8) If putrefaction be retarded and the access of 
putrefactive organisms be impeded, the bacilli of typhoid may remain 
alive within the organs of bodies buried in the ground for quite three 
months. 
Existence of Viable Tubercle Bacilli in Prisons.* — Herr Kuster- 
mann has made some experiments with the dust obtained by sponging 
down the walls of rooms in which phthisical prisoners had been kept. The 
material thus obtained was injected into the abdominal cavity of guinea- 
pigs with negative results. In the prison in question the precautionary 
measures against infection had been thoroughly carried out for the past 
two years, but without any diminution in the cases of phthisis among 
the prisoners, and the author inclines to the view that there are other 
circumstances besides the dissemination of particles of dried sputum 
over the walls and floors of prison rooms, such as mental depression, 
long confinement in a close atmosphere, and the effects of weather which 
may conduce to phthisis. 
The author’s experiments were apparently intended to test the value 
of Cornet’s results, but the conditions of the two sets of experiments 
were entirely different. Cornet proved that floor dust containing dried 
phthisical sputum contained viable tubercle bacilli : the author merely 
shows that no guinea-pig became tubercular after injection with dust 
from the walls of rooms in which tubercular patients had resided. 
Phylacogenous Substance found in Liquid Cultivations of Bacillus 
Anthracis.f — M. Arloing has found that living cultivations of Bacillus 
anihracis contain soluble vaccinating substances. In the experiments 
old cultivations, made in large quantities of bouillon, were used. After 
having stood for a long time the bacteria settle at the bottom of the 
apparatus, where they form a dense feltwork, the supernatant fluid 
becoming quite limpid. The clear fluid is then withdrawn by 
means of a siphon specially adapted for the purpose. The glass legs 
are plugged with sterilized cotton-wool and connected by a caoutchouc 
tube. The outside leg, only a little longer than the inner, is drawn 
out to a narrow point, so that the fluid is siphoned off very slowly and 
at a minimum pressure. In this way any stray bacteria would probably 
be caught in the meshes of the cotton-wool filter-plugs. The filtrate is 
allowed to stand for 24 hours and then siphoned off again. In this 
way a culture-bouillon was obtained quite free from bacilli but contain- 
ing their soluble products. By means of intravenous and subcutaneous 
injections, the latter in series of 10 ccm. each, young sheep were made 
perfectly immune to anthrax, a result not previously obtained when 
these animals were inoculated with filtered cultivations. 
* Miinchen. Med. Wochenschr., 1891, Nos. 44 and 45. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. 
u. Parasitenk., xii. (1892) pp. 157-60. 
t Comptes Rendus, cxiv. (1892) pp. 1521-3. 
