ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
461 
fermented saccharose, while the other did not. The author also refers 
to the formation of acid in saccharated media as a valuable criterion, 
especially for those bacteria which do not form gas. Among the 
typhoid-like bacteria just as marked differences in acid formation in 
presence of different kinds of sugar were observed, as in the case of the 
coloid bacilli, in reference to gas-formation. 
Ripening Process of Cheese.'* — Dr. Yal. von Klecki reviews at 
some length the literature of cheese-ripening. After a short general 
introduction, the author deals with the chemistry, and then the bac- 
teriology of the process. With one exception, the works (44) quoted 
are those of Continental authorities, many of which have been already 
reported in this Journal. 
Researches relating to the Specific Agent of Small-Pox, and the 
Production of Artificial Immunity from that Disease. f — The points 
taken up by Dr. G. M. Sternberg are the experimental evidence relating 
to the nature of the specific infectious agent of vaccine and variola ; the 
genetic relation of cow-pox, horse-pox, and small-pox ; the production of 
artificial immunity by subcutaneous inoculations with vaccine-lymph 
and by subcutaneous or intravenous injections of blood-serum from 
immune animals. It is, of course, assumed that vaccinia is variola 
modified by passage through the cow. 
The conclusions arrived at are: — (1) That small-pox, cow-pox, and 
horse-pox are genetically related, being different manifestations of the 
same infectious disease in different genera of auimals. (2) The specific 
infectious agent of variola and of vaccinia has not been demonstrated, 
and it seems probable that it is not a bacterium. (3) The bacteria 
found in vaccine-lvmph are accidents or contaminations. (4) Lymph 
preserved in glycerin eventually becomes sterile in so far as bacteria 
are concerned, though it retains its specific virulence. (5) Immunity 
may be conferred by subcutaneous injection of vaccine virus. (6) Blood- 
serum of immune animals contains a substance in solution which destroys 
the specific virulence of vaccine virus, but the substance exists in such 
small quantity that it is useless for practical therapeutic purposes. 
(7) The immunity resulting from the subcutaneous injection of vaccine 
lymph is gradually developed, and is not completed until the eighth day, 
while the immunity resulting from the transfusion of a large amount of 
blood-serum from an immune to a susceptible animal is immediate. 
Characters of Flagella.J — Dr. V. A. Moore has made a study of the 
colon, the typhoid, and the hog-cholera bacilli, as they form a group 
which resemble each other very closely morphologically, but are readily 
differentiated by their biological and eetiological properties. They con- 
sequently formed a rigid test for the differential value of the flagella. 
The results of his comparison are, that there are apparently slight 
differences in the flagella of these bacilli, but that the differences are not 
marked enough to be of differential value. The character of the flagella 
* Centralbl. f. Bacteriol. u. Parasitenk., 2 te Abt., ii. (1896) pp. 21-33, 61-77. 
Cf. this Journal, 1895, p. 668. 
f Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., l te Abt., xix. (1896) pp. 805-15, 857-69. 
See also Trans. Amer. Med. Ass., 1896. 
X Proc. Amer. Micr. Soc., xvi. (1895) pp. 217-22 (1 pi.). 
