ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
673 
Behaviour of Bacteria in small Intestine of Man.* * * § — Dr. A. Mac- 
fad yen gives an account of an investigation carried out in conjunction 
with Prof. Nencki and Dr. Sieber, on the contents of the human small 
intestine. The contents were obtained from an artificial anus, after 
excision of the ileum where it opens into the csecum. 
The object of the investigation was partly chemical, but specially to 
isolate the bacteria present in the normal small intestine and to study 
their action on proteids and carbohydrates. Three series of experi- 
ments were made, (1) during a meat diet, (2) during a mainly vegetable 
diet, (3) again during a meat diet. Numerous bacteria were isolated, 
and besides Schizomycetes, the intestinal contents were always crowded 
with fungi and yeasts. Most of the bacteria appear to have been aerobic, 
and of the anaerobic all were facultative. 
No putrefactive bacteria were isolated, and the reason for this is 
probably to be found in the acid reaction of the contents of the 
small intestine. The chief decomposition was found to be that of the 
carbohydrates, and not of the proteids, and the principal products were 
C0 2 , H, acetic, succinic, and lactic acids, and alcohol. By comparing 
the results of the action of pure cultivations of seven bacteria isolated 
from the intestinal juice with the products obtained from the juice 
itself it was concluded that the fermentation of the carbohydrates is the 
result of bacterial action. The constant presence of alcohol in the small 
intestine and in the pure cultivations of the bacteria seems very 
interesting from a physiological point of view. 
The characteristic of the bacteria of the colon is the decomposition 
of proteids. Herein the reaction is alkaline and hence favourable to 
their action. 
Resistance of the Spores of Bacillus megaterium to dryness.f — From 
experiments he has made Mr. A. P. Swan, has come to the conclusion 
that spores of Bacillus megaterium will not retain their vitality when 
dried up for more than 4 \ years, a period far below that of B. subtilis or 
anthracis. 
Action of Light on Bacillus anthracis. :J — By a series of experiments 
on anthrax spores, Prof. H. M. Ward has determined that the action of 
sunlight not only has an inhibitory influence on the multiplication of 
bacilli ; but that the direct rays of the sun actually kill the spores ; and 
that this action is quite independent of temperature ; the effect is chiefly, 
if not entirely, due to the rays of higher relrangibility in the blue-violet 
of the spectrum. The electric light has the same effect. Other bacteria 
and some fungi are affected in the same way. 
White Corpuscles as Protectors of the Blood.§— Dr. Werigo ob- 
served that in rabbits almost all the leucocytes disappeared from the 
blood a few minutes after they had been injected with a cultivation of 
B. prodigiosus in a vein of the ear. 
* Trans. 7th Internat. Congress Hygiene, ii. (1892) pp. 60-4. 
f Ann. Bot., vii. (1893) pp. 153-4. 
t Proc. Roy. Soc., lii. (1893) pp. 393-400 (2 figs.); liii. (1893) pp. 23-44. 
§ Ann. Inst. Pasteur, 1892, p. 478. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk 
xiii. (1893) pp. 241-3. 
