118 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
presence of a capsule in anthrax bacilli cultivated on agar, bouillon, 
gelatin, serum, and potato. The preparation covered with the staining 
solution was heated 4-6 times at intervals of one minute until the 
solution vaporised, then washed with and examined in water. By this 
procedure it was found that anthrax bacilli obtained directly from the 
animal body or from cultures, were invested with a capsule which is an 
integral part of the bacillus. The capsule is more easily demonstrated 
in the bacilli taken from the body than in those from cultures. Each 
bacillus has its own particular sheath, and the boundary between the 
capsules of any two adjacent bacilli is indicated by a thin transverse 
line. The shape of the capsule in culture-bacilli varies with the age 
of the culture. 
Morphology and Biology of the Tubercle Bacillus.* — Herr G. 
Marpmann, after alluding to his illustration of a specimen of tubercu- 
losis sputum which shows normal bacilli, rodlets with bulbous expan- 
sions, branchings, and some long filaments, remarks that the tubercle 
bacillus belongs to the cellulose fungi, all of which are aerobes, cellulose 
being formed only in the presence of air and never by anaerobes. On 
the other hand, anaerobes are prone to form certain gases, H-compounds, 
such as carburetted hydrogen, sulphuretted hydrogen, and also ammonia 
and phosphuretted hydrogen. The author more especially deals with 
the production of the last-named gas, and in connection with the 
cultivation of anaerobes, and of the tubercle bacillus. Three media 
containing phosphorus are mentioned: — (1) gelatin or agar, with phos- 
phate of lime and glycerin, (2) agar or gelatin with glycerin-phosphate 
of lime, (3) lecithin. The latter is prepared from ox brains by boiling 
in alcohol, filtration, and evaporation, the yellowish mass being after- 
wards pressed between folds of blotting-paper. The medium is rendered 
germ- free by repeated heating to 50° C. Anaerobes and tubercle bacilli 
grow luxuriantly on lecithin. The tubercle bacilli give indications of 
PH S , they can vegetate in the absence of air, and form both reduction 
and oxidation products. 
Passive Immunity in Diphtheria.f — The experiments made by Dr. 
Bomstein, who injected dogs and guinea-pigs with diphtheria antitoxin, 
show that the passive immunity derived from the antitoxin is not only 
transitory, but diminishes in the blood in quite a definite and regular 
manner. From the dog it disappears altogether by the 18th day, and 
from guinea-pigs by the 22nd. The fall, as shown by the curves on the 
charts, is greatest to the 6th day, after which the diminution is slower 
until its final disappearance. As antitoxin is excreted in the urine only 
in quite a minute quantity ; and as it is not to be found in the viscera, the 
author infers that it undergoes some chemical change within the body. 
Bacillus Ellenbachensis alpha and Alinit4 — Herr R. Hartleb states 
that alinit is a yellowish-grey powdery substance containing about 
2 • 5 per cent, of nitrogen. It is apparently made from Leguminosse or 
potato, and consists of starch and albumen. In the dry powder a microbe 
exists as ovoid resting spores, which in liquid media develop into fila- 
* Centralbl. Bakt. u. Par., 1“ Abt., xxii. (1897) pp. 582-6 (1 pi.). 
t Tom. cit , pp. 587-92. 
t Bot. Centralbl., Ixxii. (1897) pp. 229-31. 
