638 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
turnips, which were those used for fodder, had undergone the lactic 
fermentation. 
Bacterium acidi pabuli i. Motionless cylindrical rodlets with angular 
ends, 1*2 p long and 0*7 /x broad. The size was, however, greatly 
dependent on the medium, the cultivation, and the growth. The microbe 
was easily stained. Spore-formation was not observed. It is a potential 
anaerobe. It acidifies milk, which at 30° coagulates on the third day. 
The whole fluid sets to a homogeneous mass without separation of 
serum. The optimum temperature is between 10° and 20°. At 70° it 
is quickly killed. 
Bacterium acidi pabuli ii. This organism regularly coagulates milk 
at 30° in five days. It is a motionless rodlet, 1-1 • 2 p long and 0 • 5 fx 
broad. In milk, however, it may be as long as 2-3 or 4 /x. Spore- 
formation was not observed. In saccharated media it grows well and 
forms acid. It does not produce gas. Though an aerobe, too much air 
inhibits its activity. Its optimum temperature lies between 30° and 40°. 
Bacterium acidi pabuli iii. This bacterium is distinguished from 
the foregoing by coagulating milk after nine days and producing gas. 
It is motionless, 1*5-2 *5 /x long and 0* 8-1*1 [x broad. When divid- 
ing fast the segments may be coccoid. It retains its shape in all media. 
It does not develope resting forms. Growth and activity were unaffected 
by complete exclusion of air, while too copious access was decidedly 
detrimental. Its optimum temperature is 30°. It is destroyed in one 
hour at 60°, and in fifteen minutes at 70°. 
All three organisms excite spontaneous lactic acid fermentation, and 
the presence of sugar is indispensable to their vital requirements. 
Oane-sugar was fermented very well by i. and ii. and badly by iii., but 
if it were inverted, then bacterium iii. made use of it. The proportion 
of lactic acid to other acids present in the turnips is given as 1 to 9. 
The acidification takes place soon after stacking, when volatile and non- 
volatile acids are formed. As fermentation proceeds the quantity of 
non-volatile acid (lactic) diminishes, and the volatile increase, apparently 
being formed from the salts of the former. Among the latter, acetic 
acid predominates ; and this is all the more striking as so little air is 
present in the stacks, while the acetic fermentation demands free access 
of air. 
Presence of Tubercle Bacilli in Margarin. * — Dr. Morgenroth 
states that true virulent tubercle bacilli exist, and not infrequently, in 
margarin. 
Sorbose Bacterium. - ! — The researches of Dr. O. Emmerling on the 
sorbose bacterium have enriched our knowledge of its biology, and of the 
existence of chitin in the vegetable kingdom. The bacterium described 
by Bertrand changes the sorbite in the fruit of Sorbus Aucuparia into 
sorbose. The author is able to confirm the suspicion previously hinted 
at by Bertrand, that the sorbose bacterium is identical, morphologically 
and physiologically, with Bacterium xylinum described by Brown. The 
thick membrane, consisting of zoogloea masses, which was developed by 
* Hygien. Kundsch., 1899, p. 481. See Zeitschr. f. angew. Mikr.,v. (1899) p. 180. 
t Ber. Deutsch. Chem. Gesell., 1899, p. 541. See Centralbl. Bakt. u. Par., 2‘® 
Abt., v. (1899) p. G57. 
