516 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
give proteids are drawn. They are the mother substances, in fact, of 
the alexins. Experiments to show the diminution in the number of 
these granules in the leucocytes following on an increase in the bac- 
tericidal power of the blood, and others to demonstrate that this germi- 
cidal action was greater before than after the excretion, would be 
required by the necessities of the case. Two series of such experi- 
ments are given in copious detail, and the conclusions arrived at are 
stated by the author to be simple but not altogether new. The cells 
of the body are able to resist the entrance of micro-organisms into the 
body in virtue of their phagocytic property, but there are other cells, 
“ alexocysts,” distinguished by the presence of eosinophilous granules, 
which secrete germicidal substances. Hence the eosinophilous leuco- 
cyte is a sort of wandering gland, and is comparable to the cells in the 
gastric mucosa, which secrete and excrete pepsin, so that the eosino- 
philous granules have their analogue in the zymogenic granules. 
Mucoid Change in Infusions.* — It is well known that many infusions 
are prone to become viscid, to throw down a deposit, or to evince some 
other form of deterioration. According to Herr E. Eitsert, the mucoid 
change is not associated with a degeneration of the leaves employed, but 
is set up by micro-organisms present in the air or in the water used to 
make the infusions. Microscopical examination showed the presence of 
moulds, yeasts, and bacteria ; from all of these cultivations were made 
in Digitalis infusion, and in the course of a few days it was found that 
bacilli had induced a viscosity, while other organisms were merely 
responsible for cloudiness, decoloration, or acidity. This observation 
was confirmed by obtaining pure cultivations through gelatin plates and 
inoculating infusions. 
From the behaviour of the organism on various cultivation media 
whereon it was found to exhibit marked polymorphism, e. g. long fila- 
ments, rods like anthrax, typical streptococci and other coccus arrange- 
ments, the author calls it Bacterium gummosum. 
The rod-like shape appeared in agar cultivations, and if these were 
kept at 20°-25°, endogenous oval spores were formed. By Gram’s 
method the bacilli were unstained, but the spores retained the colour. 
When transferred to potato the cultivations at first resembled those of 
anthrax, but after a few days diplococci became predominant. The 
streptococcus form appeared in cultivations made in cane-sugar diluted 
with 1 per cent, acetate of potash. 
B. gummosum is strongly aerobic, and its growth and form seem to 
depend largely on the composition and reaction of the nutrient medium. 
Thus alkaline gelatin is liquefied, and liquefaction is promoted if the 
plates do not contain too much gelatin, while an acid reaction and a high 
percentage of gelatin retard or prevent the liquefaction. 
Efficiency of Disinfectants at High Temperatures.^ — Dr. A. Heider 
finds that the disinfecting power of most disinfectants materially increases 
when they are used at a high temperature, and therefore all disinfectants 
* Ber. Pharmaceut. Gesell., 1. (1891) pp. 389-99. See Bot. Centralbl., 1892, 
Beih., p. 540. 
f Arch. f. Hygiene, xv. pp. 341-86. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., 
xiii. (1893) pp. 292-3. 
