466 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
body by which its position becomes changed, and by constant vibration 
it moves from place to place. If the drop be protected from drying, 
the movements will last for 48 hours. The mobility is more energetic 
when a particle from a glycerin-agar culture is placed in a drop of 
bouillon. Although the movement is probably due to the presence of 
flagella, these were never observed either in stained or in unstained 
preparations. 
Therapeutic Value of the New Tuberculin.* — Prof. P. Baumgarten 
and Herr K. Walz have made experiments with the new tuberculin of 
Koch, for the purpose of ascertaining what therapeutic or curative value 
it may possess in the treatment of tuberculosis. 
Tuberculous guinea-pigs and rabbits were injected with small, 
medium, and large doses of the tuberculin (T.R.). The results were 
j)ractically the same as those from the old tuberculin, and may be 
summed up as follows. Small doses are of no use, and the larger the 
dose the greater the disadvantage. Indeed it would appear that the 
tuberculosis of animals treated with tuberculin T.R. runs a more 
malignant and rapid course than that of untreated animals. 
Immunity of Fowls to Tuberculosis. j* — MM. Lannelongue and 
Achard have found from experiments on fowls that these birds are 
refractory to human tuberculosis. Cultures, pus, or pieces taken directly 
from human organs, or which have been passed through guinea-pigs and 
rabbits, only excite local lesions, without the virus becoming generalised. 
Neither have dead bacilli any effect. The bacilli, however, not only 
remain alive, but retain their virulence for quite a long time, on the 
average for 70-80 days, sometimes for as long as 130 days. The serum 
of birds has no immunising effect. 
New Thermophilous Bacillus.f — Herr H. 0. Laxa makes a pre- 
liminary communication on a bacillus which was isolated from the scum 
formed in the course of sugar- making. The organism was cultivated in 
glycerin-agar and bouillon. It presented itself in the form of inter- 
lacing filaments, which afterwards resolved into bacilloid elements, much 
resembling in size B. proteus Zerikeri . Elliptical spores were formed. 
The organism only began to grow at 25°, thriving more and more with 
increase of temperature up to near 58°, above which it ceased to vege- 
tate. The bacillus is extremely resistant to moist and dry heat, standing 
dry heat up to 150°, and moist heat up to 100° for 15 minutes. It was 
found to be indifferent to the reaction of the medium, and it grew 
equally well with or without the presence of oxygen. In substrata con- 
taining sugar the growth of the bacillus was very energetic, and gas was 
always formed when saccharose was present. With carbohydrates the 
growth-reaction was acid ; with pepton and asparagin solutions it was 
alkaline, owing to the formation of ammonia. Nitrates were reduced 
to nitrites. The scum formation produced after inoculation with pure 
cultures supports the view that this thermophilous bacillus is the ex- 
citing cause of the scum* 
* Centralbl. Bakt. u. Par., l ta Abtk., xxiii. (1898) pp. 587-93. 
t Semaine Med., 1897, p. 175. See Bot. Centralbl., lxxiii. (1898) p. 412. 
t Centralbl. Bakt. u. Par., 2 te Abt., iv. (1898) pp. 362-7. 
