ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
389 
are practically a repetition of those previously made by Stilling, who 
found that certain anilin pigments possessed an inhibitory (and even 
disinfecting) action on the growth and development of bacteria. The 
author used as media meat-extract-peptone-grape-sugar-bouillon, and 
blood-serum ; these were mixed with definite quantities of the pigments, 
inoculated with certain micro-organisms, and incubated for ten days at 
36° C. 
In the result it was found that the methyl-violet was more efficacious 
than the auramin, and might be used for practical purposes as a 1 per 
thousand solution. In the face of its toxic action and the by no means 
inconsiderable local irritation, the advantages are doubtful, although of 
course the observations are not without value. 
Action of Artificial Gastric Juice on Pathogenic Micro-organisms.* 
— Herr G. Kabrhel, in examining the action of artificial gastric juice on 
typhoid bacillus, cholera bacillus, Bacillus neapolitanus , B. diphtherise 
Emmerich, Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus , and Streptococcus articu- 
lorum, adopted three modifications by combining an aqueous solution of 
pepsin plus hydrochloric acid, an aqueous solution of the acid alone, and 
an aqueous solution of pepsin to which hydrochloric acid and albumen 
were added. 
It was found that the acid without or with pepsin had a powerful 
antibacterial action, especially on typhoid and cholera bacilli, to which 
micro-organisms special attention was devoted. 
The question next arose as to the effect on micro-organisms which the 
gastric juice, or say the acid only, would have under approximately 
normal conditions ; for in the stomach the acid compounds of albumen are 
formed, and this is hardly the same thing. And in fact the author’s 
experiments showed that in the presence of albuminous bodies the 
hydrochloric acid lost its antiseptic action, at least to a considerable 
extent, for the cholera bacillus was the only microbe experimented on 
under the conditions alluded to, that is with hydrochloric acid and 
albumen, which did not survive. 
Ripening of Cheese.j — Herr L. Adametz ascertained, by bacterio- 
logical examination of two kinds of cheese (Emmenthaler and Hauskase), 
that these reeked with micro-organisms, Emmenthaler containing 850,000, 
and Hauskase 5J millions per gram. 
That the presence of bacteria in cheese was certain follows from the 
fact that disinfectants stop the ripening process, as also does sulphuric 
acid vapour when new cheese is kept in it. 
Nineteen species of bacteria were isolated from cheese. Of these, 
seventeen were new species, five belonging to the genus Micrococcus , 
four to the genus Sarcina , and eight to the genus Bacillus. From their 
physiological properties these bacteria are divisible into three groups : — 
(1) Those which being able to dissolve the paracasein or to convert it into 
a softened condition, give rise to a greater or less quantity of albuminoids 
or peptone, frequently accompanied by traces of disagreeable (butyric 
* Arehiv f. Hygiene, x. (1890) No. 3. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., 
viii. (1890) pp. 282-3. 
f Landwirthsch. Jahrb., 1889, pp. 227-69 (2 pis.). See Bot. Centralbl., xliii. 
(1890) p. 26. 
