ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
243 
were also obtained by using a small quantity of gelatin placed at tlio 
bottom of the tube and inoculated with some bacteria, and then filling 
up the tube with water. 
In the second case a wedge-shaped layer of fluid inoculated with 
some bacteria is obtained by tilting up one side of a cover-glass, by in- 
serting a piece of wire between the cover-glass and the slide. The 
respiration-figures obtained in this way were found to exhibit three chief 
types, the aerobic, the spirillar, and anaerobic. In the aerobic the mobile 
bacteria collect at and near the surface, beneath them being a bacterium- 
free zone, while the central zone is formed by a mass of resting bacteria. 
In the spirillar type the arrangement is reversed, the middle zone is 
filled with lively bacteria, the outer and central zone being either free 
or merely cloudy. In the anaerobic type the bacteria collect in the 
middle of the fluid wedge. 
Besides the preceding the author describes and depicts respiration 
figures of three species of Chromatium. 
Cancer of the Ash produced by Bacteria.* * * § — Herr F. Noack traces 
this disease, which is occasionally epidemic in the ash-tree, to a Schizo- 
mycete which produces a mucilaginous mass beneath the bark, extending 
thence to the interior of the stem and branches. 
Streptococcus Bombycis and the Silkworm Disease.! — Sig. L. 
Macchiati asserts that Streptococcus Bombycis is certainly the cause of 
the destructive disease which produces flaccidity in the silkworm larva. 
The germs of this microbe are constantly floating in the air, and reach 
the interior of the body with the food. Bacillus Bombycis or Cubonianus 
is only found on the death of the insect. 
Microbes in Chronic Rheumatism,! — Dr. Schuller has found a 
microbe in the synovial membrane of joints affected with chronic 
rheumatoid arthritis. It is a short bacillus, constricted in the middle, 
and can be stained by carbol-fuchsin. It grows best in the dark at about 
77° F., and may be cultivated on potato and in various culture-fluids. 
Acute rheumatism is probably quite a different disease, but may cause 
the affected joints to be less resistant to Schuller’s bacilli. 
Alexocytes.§ — Mr. E. H. Hankin, in answer to the criticism of 
Metschnikoff on the theory of alexocytes, j| admits that in describing the 
granules in leucocytes as eosinophilous he erred, and withdraws this 
term in favour of amphophilous, or pseudo-eosinophilous. With this 
exception the author thinks that Metschnikoff’s criticisms do not require 
answering, though he quotes facts in favour of his arguments, and points 
out that the objection as to whether alexins have an actual existence 
gives him little concern, as numerous proofs of their existence have been 
given by various writers. The objection against a cell origin of alexin 
from the absence of cells in the aqueous humour is disposed of by ask- 
* Zeitsohr. f. Parasitenk., iii. (1893) p. 193 (1 pL). See Bot. Centralbl., lvi. 
(1893) p. 311. 
f La Staz. sperim., xxiii. (1892) 11 pp. See Bot. Centralbl., lvi. (1893) p. 203. 
Cf. this Journal, 1892, p. 661. 
t Brit. Med. Journal, No. 1717 (1893) p. 88. 
§ Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xiv. (1893) pp. 852-7. Cf. this Journal, 
1893, p. 515. 11 Cf. Ann. Inst. Pasteur, vii. (1S93) p. 50. 
