ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
385 
Bacterium lactis acrogenes, Bacillus cedematis maligni , &c., relative to tlie 
production of gas in saccharose and lactose bouillon, that gas-production 
and acid-formation only take place in the presence of sugar or carbo- 
hydrates ; fermentation phenomena are at once recognizable by the mere 
formation of acid, or by that of gas and acid ; many bacteria form acid in 
the presence of sugar ; gas and acid formation are valuable group-re- 
actions. The quantity of gas and the formula are pretty constant 
CO 2 
for the same species of bacterium in fluids of the same composition ; 
fermentation phenomena should be examined on different carbohydrates ; 
when testing with saccharose and lactose the bouillon must be free from 
muscle sugar. 
Pathogenic Properties of Water Microbes.* — Dr. Blachstein points 
out that the pathogenic properties of water are determined rather by the 
quality than the quantity of microbes it contains, and holds that if 
animals suffer from no ill effects after inoculation with cultivation from 
water, then the water thus tested may be considered hygienic and pure. 
By mixing 1 ccm. of the water to be examined with 10 ccm. bouillon, a 
mixture of different species of bacteria was obtained, and the effect of 
this tried on various animals. Most of the inoculations made with the 
Institute water had no harmful results, though 1 ccm. produced peri- 
tonitis, and a lesser quantity failed. 
These results are held to show that the water supplied to the Institute 
Pasteur can be drunk without danger. The results of experiments made 
with Seine water taken from different places are mentioned to show the 
different effects produced on animals when injected with cultivations 
from different samples of water. The specimens taken from Point-du- 
jour were very fatal, those from St. Cloud inoffensive, and those from 
Billancourt, situate between the two former localities, less dangerous 
than those from Point-du-jour. The cultivations were found to contain 
coliform bacilli, Proteus, Bacillus d' Hericourt, and other liquefying 
bacteria. The more active mixtures were found to contain more coli- 
form bacilli than the less active in which the liquefying forms pre- 
dominated. The author isolated three species of vibrio having much 
resemblance to the Vibrio cholerse asiaticse, though on the whole it had 
more likeness to the vibrio isolated by Netter. 
Nuclei of Anthrax Spores. | — By a special method of staining, Herr 
W. Ilkewicz has been able to show that the protoplasm of Bacillus 
anthracis has a granular structure, and while it assumes a dark grey 
colour the spores either do not stain at all or are of a pale grey hue. 
The spores are described as being of three sizes, large, medium, and 
small. In the centre of the larger spores is located a black granule, and 
in very large ones there may be two such granules. The smallest spores 
are always devoid of the granules which the author considers to be the 
nuclei of the spores. 
Phagocytosis.^ — I n a reply to two attacks which have been made on 
the theory of Phagocytosis, M. E. Metschnikoff first criticizes the position 
* Ann. Inst. Pasteur, vii. (1893) pp. 689-92. 
f Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xv. (1894) pp. 261-7 (1 fig.). 
X Ann. Inst. Pasteur, viii. (1894) pp. 58-64. Of. this Journal, 1893, p. 232. 
1894 2 d 
