666 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
the extraordinary quantity and quality of the contaminations to which 
the Jumna and Ganges rivers are constantly liable, they contain some 
volatile substance, the nature of which the author has not been able to 
determine, which rapidly destroys the cholera vibrio. It would seem 
that the Jumna water possesses more effective antiseptic qualities than 
the waters of the Ganges, and that both lose their bactericidal properties 
if they be boiled. Moreover, as experiments with Jumna water in her- 
metically closed tubes showed that this water did not lose its faculty of 
annihilating the vibrio, it seems a plausible inference that the antiseptic 
substance is of a volatile nature, either developed in the water itself or 
acquired in situ. But whatever the explanation may be, there seems to 
be no doubt that the waiters of these rivers have special qualities, which 
enable them to disinfect very rapidly the cholera-stricken corpses and 
dejecta with which they are constantly contaminated. 
Action of Metabolic Products of Staphylococcus and Pneumococcus.* 
— Dr. S. Wolf made a series of experiments relative to the method of 
action of the toxins of Staphylococcus and Pneumococcus , for the purpose 
of ascertaining if the metabolic products of these microbes possess the 
same fatal action on the animal organism as is observed after infection 
with pure cultures. Into the peritoneal sac of rabbits (7) w r as inserted 
a collodion bag containing some bouillon-culture of virulent Staphylo- 
coccus. Cultivations from the peritoneal exudation found after death 
showed the presence of S. py. aureus , and thrice that of B. coli. In 
three cases Staphylococcus w r as found in the heart-blood, and B. coli once. 
In the peritoneal sac of four rabbits a collodion bag filled with Pneumo- 
coccus was successfully introduced. The toxic effect was in two cases a 
rise of temperature to 40°, in the other two not exceeding 39° *2. All 
these animals succumbed to 0 • 1 ccm. subcutaneous injection, while the 
control survived. The previous toxic action would therefore seem to 
have a predisposing effect. 
Bacillus of Rheumatoid Arthritis.! — Dr. F. R. Blaxall (in conjunct- 
ion with Drs. Bannatyne and Wohlmann) has demonstrated in the 
synovial fluid of eighteen cases of rheumatoid arthritis an organism with 
constant characteristics. It is a bacillus, 2 /x long by 0*6 /m broad, 
exhibiting marked polar staining. It is difficult to stain, and is easily 
decolorised. Cultivated in beef broth it gives the appearance of gold- 
dust ; while on agar and serum its growth is almost invisible. It does 
not grow on gelatin at ordinary temperature. It is present in the blood 
in severe cases. With the organism described by Schuller as occurring 
in this disease the bacillus discovered by Bannatyne and Wohlmann has 
nothing in common, save the polar staining and the ease of decolorisa- 
tion. 
Presence of Typhoid Bacilli in Water, Earth, and Faeces of Persons 
unaffected with Typhoid Fever.! — MM. Remliuger and Schneider have 
been able to identify the bacillus of typhoid fever in 8 out of 36 samples 
of water, and in 6 out of 10 samples of earth, by means of Gruber’s 
* Centralbl. f, Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., l te Abt., xx. (1896) pp. 375-86. 
t Lancet, 1896, i. pp. 1120-1 (1 pi.). 
t La Scmaine Med., lb 96, p. 284. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk . 9 
l te Abt., xx. (1S96) p. 459. 
