460 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
containing maltose or galactose it developed rapidly, fairly well with 
glucose, levulose, and lactose, badly with sacrose and mannite, and 
scarcely at all with glycerin. The green pigment varies with the 
medium and the age of the culture, and in some media, such as pepton- 
gelatin, it is fluorescent. In whey without pepton tbe cultures were 
fluorescent, hut there was no pigment. Both the fluorescence and the 
pigment developed in a medium containing 100 ccm. water and 1 grm. of 
sulphate of ammonia, to which were added glucose or pepton or succinate 
of soda or phosphate of soda in different proportions. Without the 
presence of air the pigment was not formed. By extracting with boiling 
alcohol the pigment was found to be an amorphous substance, reddish- 
brown in colour, very hygroscopic, with a penetrating odour and bitter 
taste. It is almost insoluble except in water and boiling alcohol. Its 
reaction is neutral. Acids remove, and alkalies increase the colour. The 
chemical formula is given as C 5 H 10 O 8 . A small quantity (*02 grm.) 
injected into a frog killed the animal in five hours. 
Antileucocidine.* — Prof. J. Denys and M. H. van de Velde have 
found that, in rabbits vaccinated against Staphylococcus pyogenes , there is 
produced a substance which neutralises tbe effects of leucocidine, and 
which they call antileucocidine. It plays an important part in the 
immunity of rabbits vaccinated against Staphylococcus , and appears to 
destroy leucocidine by combining with it. It is only found in animals 
vaccinated against Staphylococcus , and was sought for in vain in rab- 
bits vaccinated against Streptococcus pyogenes and Bacillus coli com- 
munis. With regard to its mode of action, the authors opine that the 
antileucocidine combines with leucocidine to form an inoffensive 
compound. 
Bacillus coli communis and Related Forms.f — Dr. Th. Smith urges 
the necessity of a more exact examination for gases in bacteriological 
investigations, and shows that the ordinary methods of gas examination 
fail to distinguish gas-forming species from one another. For this 
examination fermentation flasks are valuable, as not only can the 
presence of gas be determined, but the course of its accumulation, the 
total quantity, and the relative volume of C0 2 . Examples are also 
given of gas-forming bacteria which by the ordinary culture methods 
are indistinguishable, but which are distinctly differentiated in the 
presence of different kinds of sugar. But before this is possible the 
muscle-sugar in the bouillon must be determined and disposed of. This 
is done by inoculating the fermentation tube with a gas-forming 
bacterium. If no gas be formed the bouillon can be used for saccharose 
and lactose bouillon. Bouillon in which more or less gas is formed is 
only suitable for dextrose. In tabular form, the behaviour of thirty-six 
cultures of coli and coloid organisms in dextrose, saccharose, and lactose 
bouillon is given. Some of these resembled typhoid bacilli, others 
B. lactis aerogenes. These tables indicate the importance of greater 
accuracy in the determination of gas. For example, in the B. lactis 
aerogenes group the gas reactions of certain species or varieties exhibited 
considerable difference, and of two subspecies of B. coli communis one 
* La Cellule, xi. (1896) pp. 359-72. 
t Amer. Journ. Med. Sci., cx. (1895) pp. 283-302. 
