250 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
qua non for this procedure, is then inoculated with exudate from the sus~ 
pected throat, and the tube incubated for four hours at 37° * * * § 5-38°. A 
platinum loop is then rubbed over the surface, after which the loop is 
well rubbed on to a minute drop of water on a cover-glass. When 
spread and dried the film is stained. 
The author states that an incubator is not necessary for detecting 
diphtheria bacilli, as they can be grown at room temperature in about 
eighteen hours sufficiently copiously to give a good preparation, though, 
as in the previous case, there will be no naked eye evidence of the exist- 
ence of a colony. 
Method for Preparing very active Diphtheria Toxin.* — Prof. C. 
H. H. Spronck has found that the most important condition for obtaining 
very active diphtheria toxin is to use bouillon which does not contain a 
trace of glucose. For this purpose meat as old as possible should be 
used. The author employs two per cent, pepton, containing no glucose, 
and for’safety adds to the bouillon, after it has been alkalinised with 
0 * 5 per cent, sodium carbonate, a small quantity of carbonate of lime. 
With these simple precautions a diphtheria bacillus of medium virulence 
can be made to furnish in 3-4 weeks, a toxin killing with a dose of 0 • 2 
com. a kilogram of guinea-pig in 24 hours. 
Platinum Wire Brush fori Inoculating Culture Media with Diph- 
therial Matter.f — Herr Pfaffenholz uses a platinum wire brush for 
smearing material suspected of being diphtherial on culture surfaces. 
Its special advantage is that it can be easily and perfectly sterilised. It 
is made by melting into a glass rod about a hundred pieces of very fine 
platinum wire, in lengths of 1^-2 cm. 
Cultivation Medium for Diphtheria Bacilli. if — M. J. Amann has 
obtained very excellent results with the following medium for cultivating 
diphtheria bacilli. To the white of an egg are added 0*5 per cent. 
NaCl, 1 per cent, meat-peptone, 1 per cent, grape-sugar, and 10 per cent, 
distilled water. The mixture is poured into a Petri’s capsule, and steam 
sterilised. Good cultures are obtained after incubating for 8 to 12 hours. 
Demonstrating the Presence of Bacillus Coli in Water. § — Sig. 
F. Abba adopts the following method for demonstrating the presence 
of B. coli in water : — To a litre of the water to be examined 100 ccm. 
of a medium composed of grape-sugar 200 grm., pepton 100 grm., salt 
50 grm., carbonate of soda 5 grm., water 1000 grm., are added. To the 
mixture 0 * 5 ccm. of a 1 per cent, alcoholic solution of phenolphthalein 
is added. The whole is then distributed among five or six Erlenmeyer’s 
flasks and incubated at 37°. At the same time agar plates in Petri’s 
capsules are incubated in order to evaporate off the condensation water. 
If B. coli develop on the bouillon, the contents of the flasks are deco- 
lorised in 8-16-24 hours. Should decolorisation occur, a loopful of the 
* Ann. Inst. Pasteur, ix. (1895) pp. 758-65. 
f Hygienische .Rundschau, 1895, No. 16. See Bot. Centralbl., lxiv. (1895) 
pp. 357-8. 
f Arch. Sci. Phys. et Nat. Geneve, i. (1896) pp. 169-70. 
§ La Riforma Med., 1895, No. 176. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk.. 
l te Abt., xix. (1896) pp. 224-5. 
