ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
775 
account of his own observations, chiefly on Vicia sativa. His conclusions 
agree on the whole with those of Laurent and Ward. He favours the 
view of racial peculiarities dependent on the influence of the special host 
on the parasite, rather than on the specific distinctness of the parasites 
of different species of leguminous plants, 
iEtiology of Cholera.* * * § — Dr. W. Hesse maintains that cholera is 
probably more often transmitted by dust blown about by the air than is 
usually supposed. In support of this view he carried out the following 
experiment. A piece of calico was steeped in a bouillon culture of cholera, 
and dried in an incubator for one hour. It was then rubbed and shaken 
over an agar plate. Up to 22^ hours viable bacilli fell on the plate, and 
typical colonies were there developed. After two or three days the 
experiments were negative and no cholera bacilli could be demonstrated 
microscopically. 
Microbe resembling the Cholera Bacillus.j — Dr. Fokker has lighted 
on another comma-shaped water bacterium which liquefies gelatin. It 
was found in a Dutch harbour suspected of containing cholera bacilli. 
In shape it resembles Koch’s comma bacillus, yet in gelatin puncture 
cultivations and on plates it grows like the Finkler-Prior bacillus. 
On agar it thrives well at 37°, in fluid media it developes best at the 
room temperature. Injection of liquefied gelatin cultures into the peri- 
toneal sac of guinea-pigs had no effect. By precipitating liquefied gelatin 
cultures with alcohol the author isolated an enzyme which coagulates 
milk. The author regards his bacillus as a degenerated cholera vibrio. 
Relation of the Cholera Vibrio to Asiatic Cholera.J — M. E. 
Metschnikoff concludes from researches on the preventive property of the 
blood, made on 68 persons, that this, as far as regards the cholera vibrio 
of Indian origin, is extremely variable. It exists in about half the 
number of persons who have not had cholera, and in 58 per cent, of 
those who have passed through an attack. Almost half the number of 
persons sick of cholera, and half of those dead of this disease, are also 
possessed of this preventive property of the blood. The patient may 
recover without this property being established. 
The author seems to have derived his initiative from the experiments 
of G. Klemperer, who found that by injecting blood-serum of persons 
who had never had cholera into the peritoneal sac of guinea-pigs, that 
these animals were no longer susceptible to inoculation with the comma 
bacillus. Very similar results were obtained when guinea-pigs were 
treated with blood taken from patients actually suffering from cholera 
some of whom died. A third series of experiments was made with the 
blood of persons dead of cholera, and a fourth with blood taken from 
persons who had recovered. 
Detrimental Effect of Cholera-products on other Organisms. § 
Herren G. Gabritschewsky and E. Maljutin are of opinion that the 
comma bacillus produces chemical substances which markedly inhibit the 
* Zeitschr. f. Hygiene, xiv. No. 1. See Cenlralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk 
xiii. (1893) p. 822. " ’’ 
f Deutsche Med. Wochensehr., ]893, No. 7. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Para- 
sitenk., xiii. (1893) p. 440. + Ann. Inst. Pasteur, vii. (1893) pp. 403-22 
§ Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xiii. (1893) pp. 780-5. 
