ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
345 
be pointed, rounded, or even bulbous. In some preparations the bacilli 
are found massed together, in others there are club-shaped forms, and in 
others branched forms. 
Experiments on animals were negative. 
Septicaemia hemorrhagica of Cattle.* * * § — Dr. G. Bosso describes a 
micro-organism which he has discovered in the haemorrhagic subserous 
flecks of cattle dying in 24 hours of haemorrhagic septicaemia. The 
microbe is 2-2 • 4 /x long and 0*4-0 *5 /x broad. It is devoid of motion, 
and does not form spores. It is easily stained, but not by Gram’s 
method. It does not give the indol reaction. It is a potential aerobe, 
though when cultivated as an anaerobe it loses its pathogenic properties 
for guinea-pigs and rabbits. It is easily destroyed by heat and chemical 
reagents and drying. The effect of its toxin when injected into animals 
is practically nil. Its virulence is rapidly diminished by continuous 
cultivation, but by passage through animals it acquires increased patho- 
genic properties. The microbe is pathogenic to guinea-pigs and rabbits, 
producing in these animals the morbid appearances of haemorrhagic 
septicaemia. Successful cultures were obtained in bouillon, milk, on 
gelatin, agar, and potato. 
Histological examination of cattle, guinea-pigs, and rabbits, shows the 
presence of large crowds of the specific bacterium in the extravasations 
in the heart, spleen, and kidneys. 
iEtiology of Syphilis. | — Dr. Van Niessen describes a microbe which 
he has found in the blood and diseased tissues of persons suffering from 
syphilis. The organism, which is demonstrable by staining reagents and 
on cultivation, is a pleomorphic bacillus, closely allied to the higher 
fungi. The disease is transferable and hereditary, not only in man but 
also in animals (rabbits) inoculated with the bacillus. The organism 
usually presents itself in the form of streptobacillus. The appearances 
presented by the blood, as depicted in some of the figures, are so unusual 
that it excites the doubt whether the drawings were made from recent or 
old preparations. 
Parasites of Cancer and Sarcoma. — M. F. J. Bose, J from an exami- 
nation of large numbers of malignant growths, is of opinion that there 
exist in these tumours abnormal structures, foreign to the tissues, which 
may be grouped under five morphological types : — (1) micrococci or 
microbes; (2) granulations; (3) cell-forms; (4) encysted-forms ; (5) sar- 
codic forms. All these five types have their seat in the protoplasm of the 
cancerous cell, occasionally in the nucleus, and sometimes in connective 
tissue cells and giant cells. 
The examinations were made from the fresh juice and tissue, and 
also from fixed preparations, stained and unstained. 
In a later communication § the author discusses the staining re- 
actions, the structure, and the modes of reproduction of the parasites. 
Even without staining the parasites can be distinguished from the 
surrounding tissue, but from staining in the first condition remarkable 
* Centralbl. Bakt. u. Par., l te Abt., xxiii. (1898) pp. 318-23. 
t Tom. cit., pp. 49-59, 108-17, 194-205, 258-G6 (2 pis.), 
j Comptes Kendus, exxvi. (1898) pp. 541-4. 
§ Tom. cit., pp. 1161-3. 
