284 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Influenza Bacillus and Otitis media.* — Dr. Scheibe detected in 
the aural discharge from an influenza patient suffering also from otitis 
media, Diplococcus pneumoniae, St. albus, and a species of bacillus which 
he identified as Pfeiffer’s influenza bacillus. The author’s own descrip- 
tion, however, throws some doubt on this identity, for Scheibe’s bacilli 
are much bigger than Pfeiffer’s. They are usually rounded off at the 
ends, sometimes sausage-shaped, sometimes showing knot-like thicken- 
ings. They hardly ever lie in lengths, but remain separate or form 
groups. Degeneration forms are quite frequent. The bacilli, moreover, 
are stained by Gram’s method. 
Influenza Bacteria. t — Dr. Babes states that the bacteria described 
by him as occurring in the expectoration of influenza patients (1891-92) 
are identical with the influenza bacilli of Pfeiffer, and he therefore 
claims the priority of discovery. He is not, however, convinced that these 
bacilli are the actual cause of influenza, since so many bacteria are 
present in that disease. In the cases recorded the bacteria were found in 
enormous masses in mucus, within leucocytes, on the surface of mucosa, 
and within lvmph-spaces and in deep-lying organs. They were described 
by the author as motionless extremely fine diplobacteria, or short rods 
about 0 * 2 /x thick. They did not stain by Gram’s method. Grown on 
agar they formed powdery colonies, and when rubbed into the nasal mucosa 
of rabbits set up a kind of sepsis and pneumonia terminating fatally. 
Adam i, J. G. — On the Variability of Bacteria and the Development of Races. 
Med. Chronicle , XVI. (1892) pp. 366-89. 
Boutrotjx, L. — Revue des travaux sur les bacteries et les fermentations. (Review 
of Works on Bacteria and Fermentations.) Rev. Gen. de Dot., 1892, No. 40. 
Dzierzgowski, S., et L. de Eekowski — Rechercbes sur la transformation 
des milieux nutritifs par les bacilles de la diphtherie et sur la composition 
chimique de ces microbes. (Researches on the Transformation of Nutrient Media 
by -the Bacillus of Diphtheria, and on the Chemical Constitution of these 
Microbes.) Arch. Sci. Biol. St. Petersb., 1892, pp. 167-97. 
F i sc he l, F. — TJntersuchungen uber die Morphologie und Biologie des Tuberculose- 
Erregers. (Investigations on the Morphology and Biology of the Cause of 
Tuberculosis.) Vienna and Leipzig, 1892, large 8vo, 28 pp. 
Fraenkel, E. — Zur Biologie des Kommabacillus. (The Biology of the Comma 
Bacillus.) Deutsche Med. Woclienschr , 1892, pp. 1047-8. 
Furthhann, W., u. C. H. Neebe — Vier Trichophyton-Arten. (Four species 
of Trichophyton.') Monatsch. /. Praht. Dermatol., XIII. (1892) pp. 447-90. 
Gam ale i a — De la nature chimique des poisons bacteriens. (On the Chemical 
Nature of Bacterial Poisons.) Mid. Moderne , 1892, pp. 537-43. 
Ghriskey, A. A. — Bacteria in Bottled Waters. 
Med. News, XI. (1892) pp. 404-5. 
Griffiths, A. B. — Sur une nouvelle leucomaine. (On a new Leucomaine.) 
Compt. Rend., CXV. (1892) pp. 185-6. 
Hori, S. — Notes on seme Japanese Uredineae. 
Bot. Mag. Tokyo , VI. (1892) pp. 211-6 [Japanese]. 
* Miinchener Med. Wochenschr., 1892, No. 14. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., xii. (1892) p. 677. 
f Deutsch. Med. Wochenschr., 1892, No. 6. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., xii. (1892) p. 667. 
