ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
501 
under a low magnification the colonies are seen to bo finely granular, 
having a lightish margin and darker centre. In saccharated media 
(gelatin, agar, bouillon) gas is freely developed, about one-third of it 
being hydrogen and two-thirds carbonic acid. Microscopical examina- 
tion showed that the organism was a rodlet of variable length possessed 
of considerable mobility and devoid of spores. A prominent feature 
was the production of acids, chiefly acetic and lactic, though traces of 
formic were discoverable. By inoculating sterilized meal with a pure 
cultivation of B. levans , active fermentation accompanied by rising of 
the dough and production of acid ensued. Besides the foregoing features 
B. levans has several characters in common with B. coli commune. 
Morphologically they resemble each other closely. They produce gases 
equally well though in different amounts, e. g. instead of one-third 
hydrogen and two-thirds carbonic acid, B. coli produces two-thirds 
hydrogen and one-third carbonic acid. The few experiments on animals 
show that B. levans possesses slight pathogenic properties, and recalls in 
this respect the effect of some races of B. coli. 
Microbe of Ozsena.* — Dr. Loewenberg, who has studied this disease 
since 1880, states that he has constantly verified the presence of a large 
motionless coccus, mostly in pairs, and frequently in chains, held 
together by a hyadine mass. When stained with gentian-violet and 
examined under high powers the;y often show a transverse clear zone. 
The organism does not stain by Gram’s method. As a rule the reaction 
is alkaline, and the microbe resembles in appearance Friedlaender’s 
pneumobacillus. Cultivated on gelatin plates two sorts of colonies 
develope, one yellowish in the gelatin, others whitish on the surface. 
Both, however, are formed by the same microbe, a coccobacillus, which 
in artificial cultures may lose its capsule. The organism grows also 
on other media such as agar, bouillon, serum, potato, and even when 
cultivated anaerobically. In the disease condition the micro-organism 
gives rise to a very disagreeable smell, while in artificial cultivation the 
odour is agreeable. Preparations from nasal mucus and from blood of 
animals show a capsule, but in artificial cultures the presence of a 
capsule is very variable. Ribbert’s solution stains the capsule, when 
present, admirably. 
The coccus of ozaena, which is invariably present in the discharge in 
enormous numbers, can only be confounded with the pneumobacillus, 
but in artificial cultures they show important differences, those of ozaena 
on gelose being white, and those of pneumobacillus being yellowish. In 
sterilized milk the former scarcely grows at all, while the latter thrives 
well, coagulates and acidifies the medium. On gelose pneumobacillus 
gives off a strong odour of trimethylamin and imparts to the medium an 
alkaline reaction. 
The microbe of ozaena is extremely pathogenic, and though pneumo- 
bacillus is so too, yet it is less virulent to mice. 
Anthrax in the Rabbit, and its Lessons.| — M. Werigo, who has 
studied the development of anthrax in the rabbit, through microscopical 
examinations of the liver and spleen, discusses three principal questions 
in connection with this particular form of the malady, viz. the theory 
* Ann. Inst. Pasteur, viii. (1894) pp. 292-317. f Tom. cit., pp. 1-53 (3 pis.). 
1894 2 M 
