498 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
short streptococci, which occasionally formed the red pigment, and 
were originally obtained from tuberculous men. 
Streptococci in the Healthy and Unhealthy Mouth.* * * § — Dr. Dorn- 
berger records the results of 94 examinations of the mouths of children, 
both sick and healthy. In 45 per cent, streptococci were found in 
healthy children. In 78*9 per cent, of cases, Streptococcus longus was 
found. In angina phlegmonosa Str. brevis was found, and out of seven 
cases of angina catarrhalis, streptococci were present in five instances, 
while in chronic catarrhal angina these organisms were demonstrated in 
half the number of cases. In seven out of eight cases of carious teeth, 
long streptococci were found. 
The frequent presence of cocci, which in form and arrangement re- 
sembled known pathogenic streptococci, both in morbid and healthy 
conditions of the mouth, suggested that both morphologically and bio- 
logically resemblances might present themselves between these organ- 
isms and Str. pyogenes or erysipelatis. 
Atmospheric Streptococci. j* — M. P. Chatin used for his experiments 
the Strauss and Wurtz apparatus, taking in at least 20 litres of air, or at 
most 70 litres. In two out of seven experiments, micro-organisms con- 
stantly present in the air developed : in one a non- virulent strepto- 
coccus ; in one a virulent streptococcus which set up erysipelas ; while 
the remaining three resulted in impure cultures, though they were found 
to produce an oedema in animals. In another series of experiments the 
air was taken from the operating theatre and the wards of a hospital. 
In this series plenty of germs developed, but none were pathogenic. 
The author particularly notes that streptococci thrive remarkably well 
in acid solutions. 
Transitory Variety of the Cholera Vibrio.J — During the last cholera 
epidemic at Pome Drs. A. Celli and S. Santori carefully examined forty- 
four cases, and in twelve instances found a vibrio with the following 
important characters. It does not give the indol reaction ; is not patho- 
genic to animals ; does not grow at 37° either in bouillon or on agar, 
nor does it coagulate milk. It is therefore probably an atypical form of 
the cholera bacillus analogous to those isolated by other observers from 
cholera dejecta. 
The authors go on to say that eight months afterwards the foregoing 
negative characteristics disappeared, for the vibrio developed in bouillon 
and on agar, and gave the indol reaction. The pathogenic power, how- 
ever, remained nil. They regard this organism as a transitory variety 
of Vibrio cholerse asiaticse Koch, and point out that the bacteriological 
diagnosis of cholera is not always to be relied on. 
New Species of Choleroid Vibrio.§ — Dr. M. Iwanoff describes a 
vibrio which was isolated from the intestinal evacuations of a patient 
suffering from enteric fever at the time when cholera was present in 
* Jahrb. f. Kinderheilkunde, xxxv. p. 395. 
t These, Lyon, 1893, 72 pp. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xv. 
<1894) p. 764. 
X Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xv. (1894) pp. 789-95. 
§ Zeitschr. f. Hygiene u. Infektions., xv. (1893) pp. 434-8. See Centralbl. f. 
Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xv. (1894) p. 433. 
