468 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Mice, guinea-pigs, monkeys, and birds were refractory to the virus ; 
one positive result was obtained with dogs. The appearances, however, 
were those partly of inflammation and partly of epithelioma. Two trials 
of the rabbit serum were made on the human subject. The injection was 
followed by pain and swelling of the eyes. Attempts to produce a 
vaccine serum failed. 
iEtiology of Beri-Beri.* — Dr. W. K. Hunter observed in fresh blood 
of two cases of beri-beri micro-organisms flitting about in the plasma. 
In cultures made from the blood a white staphylococcus developed. In- 
jection into rabbits induced degeneration of the nerves. The same 
coccus was isolated from rice, and produced parenchymatous degenera- 
tion of the nerves in rabbits. The author considers that rice is the 
source of infection. 
Lafar’s Technical Mycology.! — The translation into English of vol. i. 
of Prof. F’. Lafar’s excellent work on Technical Mycology is a real boon 
to all who are interested in vegetable microbes. The subtitle, ‘ The 
Utilisation of Micro-organisms in the Arts and Manufactures,’ indicates 
the line taken by the author, who has specially directed his attention to 
the requirements of the brewer, distiller, and agricultural chemist ; in 
short, to all who are interested in fermentation from the industrial side. 
Though principally intended for practical purposes, the theoretical and 
historical aspects of fermentation are copiously represented, and from 
the first page to the last the volume is garnished with facts drawn from 
their original sources, an initiative which is as useful as it is praise- 
worthy. The author’s style, well rendered into English by Mr. C. T. C. 
Salter, is clear and bright, and a perusal of this work will be found far 
more interesting than that of most of the present day fiction. 
After an appreciative preface by E. 0. Hansen, follows the intro- 
duction, wherein are dealt with the theories of spontaneous generation, 
and of fermentation and the organisms of fermentation. 
The rest of the volume treats of schizomycetic fermentation, dis- 
cussed in nine sections and thirty-eight chapters. Just to indicate the 
scope and general tenor of the work, we will mention some of these, as 
the section on lactic fermentation and allied decompositions. This 
section includes chapters on the general characteristics of the lactic acid 
bacteria ; the production of optically active organic compounds by fer- 
mentation ; the artificial souring of cream ; the curdling of milk ; lactic 
acid bacteria in distilling, brewing, and vinification, and in the prepara- 
tion of fodder ; the part played by bacteria in tanning. 
Other sections deal with the formation of mucus and allied phe- 
nomena of decomposition, the transformations and decompositions of 
organic nitrogenous compounds, and with oxidising fermentations. In 
this last section are discussed the iron bacteria, the sulphur bacteria, the 
nitrifying bacteria, the acetic fermentation, and the oxydases. 
Space does not permit to allude to more than the few casual details 
already given, but these will b6 enough to indicate the general scope of 
the work which, from its enormous stores of facts, logically placed and 
clearly recited, will be sure of the success it deserves. It is to be hoped 
that the second volume will not be long in coming. 
* Lancet, 1898, i. p. 1748. 
f London, Charles Griffin & Co., 1898, xviii. and 405 pp., 1 pi. and 90 figs. 
