ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETO. 
83 
(Friedlander’s pneumo-bacillus, St. 'pyogenes aureus , typhoid bacillus) 
appears to be considerably diminished or altogether absent. In the 
blood of severe dyscras as it is retained. 
The blood of rabbits which had been kept at a temperature of 41°— 
42° until they became notably hyperthermic, destroys a larger quantity 
of typhoid bacilli, bacilli of rabbit septicaemia, and of St. pyogenes 
aureus than the blood of normal rabbits. The germicidal action of 
the normal blood of men and rabbits on typhoid bacillus and St. pyogenes 
aureus is slower and less marked at 12° than at 36°. At 42° for 
St. pyogenes aureus it appears to vanish quickly. 
Preservation and Sterilization of Milk.* — The preservation and 
sterilization of milk, when effectual, are attended, says H. Bitter, with 
several inconveniences, such as the costliness of the process and the loss 
of the odour and taste of the fluid ; these difficulties have been removed 
by the “ Pasteurization ” of milk, the object of which is to sterilize milk 
at temperatures between 65° and 80°, so that while the bacteria are 
killed, the taste and odour are but little diminished. An essential part 
of the process is to cool the fluid, immediately after heating, down to 
10°-12 J , since gradual cooling allows the development of any remaining 
germs between the temperatures of 40° and 20°. Care must also be 
taken lest re-infection of the milk take place in the cooler, or in the 
vessels used for transporting the fluid from place to place. 
The author describes and gives an illustration of the apparatus which 
he has devised for pasteurizing milk. 
Nitrification.f — In a second memoir on nitrifying organisms, 
S. Winogradski gives the results obtained from pure cultivations of the 
organism isolated by him. This was a colourless elliptical or roundish 
cell, with a diameter of 1 p, and is termed by the author Nitromonas. 
This organism, it is found, may grow normally and continue to exert its 
functions in a medium which contains no trace of any organic carbon 
compounds. The principal conclusion arrived at is that perfect synthesis 
of organic material is possible through the action of organic beings, 
independently of sunlight. Bence it may be said that the life-history 
of Nitromonas is characterized by the phenomena of constiuction, and in 
this respect differs from that of other micro-organisms, the functions of 
which are principally destructive. 
Destruction of Anthrax Bacilli in the Body of White Rats.J — Dr. 
G. Frank, in answer to the explanation given by Metschnikoff about the 
disappearance of anthrax in white rats after inoculation under the skin, 
or in the anterior chamber of the eye, considers that the general validity 
of phagocytosis is in no way improved by the experiments or the 
explanation. Objection is taken to inferences drawn from cover- glass 
preparations as being misleading owing to the well-known difficulty of 
determining whether a bacillus is above, beneath, or within a cell in 
cover-glass or hollow slide preparations. This deficiency should be 
* Zeitschr. f. Hygiene, viii., No. 2. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., 
viii. (1890; pp. 506-7. 
f Ann ales de l’lnstitut Pasteur, iv. (1890) p. 257. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., viii. (1890) pp. 392-5. 
X Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., viii. (1890) pp. 298-300. 
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