228 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
is a potential anaerobe. The addition of glycerin to the medium seems to 
«xert a favourable effect. Gelatin is not liquefied. Attempts to repro- 
duce the disease in animals failed. During the investigation one of the 
authors caught a “ cold and cough,” and found the microbe in the 
discharge. 
Bacilli and Pseudo-Bacilli of Diphtheria.* — Drs. R. T. Hewlett and 
Edith Knight thus sum up the results of their investigations into 
the relations of the pseudo-diphtheria bacillus and the Klebs-Loeffler 
bacillus. 
(1) At least two forms have been described under the term pseudo- 
diphtheria bacillus : (a) one in morphology a K.-L. bacillus but non- 
virulent (Roux, Yersin, &c.), and ( b ) another, shorter, plumper, and 
more regular in form, and staining more uniformly than the K.-L. 
bacillus (Loeffler, von Hoffmann, &c.). 
(2) The term pseudo-diphtheria bacillus should be reserved for the 
latter form. 
(3) This pseudo-bacillus differs from K.-L. bacillus in morphology 
and staining, by producing an alkaline and not an acid reaction, by 
giving a visible growth on alkaline potato, by not growing anaerobically, 
and by being non-virulent. 
(4) The pseudo-bacillus may occur in healthy throats, and in certain 
mild forms of angina. 
(5) The pseudo-bacillus sometimes seems to replace the diphtheria 
bacillus towards convalescence. 
(6) Pseudoforms may occur in cultures of the bacillus. 
(7) K.-L. or diphtheritic forms nearly always occur s ome time or 
other in cultures of the pseudo-bacillus. 
(8) In a number of cultures it is possible to obtain a series of organ- 
isms which form a connecting link between the K.-L. and the pseudo- 
bacillus. 
(9) By careful heating it has apparently been possible to convert a 
typical virulent K.-L. into a typical non-virulent pseudo-bacillus. 
(10) By cultivation and incubation and passage through an animal, a 
pseudo has apparently been converted into a K.-L. bacillus. 
The authors therefore consider the pseudo is sometimes a modified 
K.-L. bacillus. 
Bacilli of Beri-Beri.| — M. G. Nepveju describes three forms of 
bacilli which he has found in diseased tissues sent from Senegal. The 
largest are most frequent in the kidneys ; here they measure 6-10 /x in 
length by 0*3-0 *4 /x in breadth. They are straight or slightly curved, 
with rounded ends. The rodlet is marked by alternations of light and 
dark spaces. The best method of demonstrating this long form is to 
mordant the sections in a bath of ammonia-alum and sesqui-oxide of iron 
(0*1 per cent.), overstain with Roux’s blue, and then decolorise strongly. 
The dark spaces are coloured blue, the rest of the cell, including the 
thin marginal contour, being pale rose. 
In the medium sized form the bacilli are from 3-4 /x long, by 0*3 /x 
broad. These are found in large numbers in the blood-vessels of the 
* Trans. Brit. Inst. Preventive Med., 1st series, 1897, pp. 7-32 (1 pi.), 
f Comptes Rendus, cxxvi. (1898) pp. 236-7. 
