ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
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25°-35°, while before this they had constantly shown a violet-red colour 
under these circumstances. 
Alteration in the kind and character of the medium had no effect in 
recalling the pigment, but the red colour was found to return on potato 
at 10° to 25°, but was lost again if further cultivations were made at 
higher temperatures. 
Pseudotuberculosis produced by a pathogenic Cladothrix.* — Herr 
H. Eppinger found in an old glass-grinder who had died of cerebro- 
spinal meningitis, consecutive to a chronic metastatic abscess of the 
brain, and in whom were also present lymphatic abscesses and pseudo- 
tuberculosis of the lungs and pleura, that a hitherto unknown patho- 
genic cladothrix was the cause of the first-mentioned disease. Cultivated 
on artificial media it presented its characteristic appearances, and on 
account of its stellate form the author designates it Cladothrix asteroidea. 
In guinea-pigs and rabbits the pseudotuberculosis cladothrichica was 
produced, and from their morbid products pure cultivations of Clado- 
thrix asteroidea were obtained. 
Effect of the Koch Treatment on the Tubercle Bacilli in Sputum.t — 
Dr. J. Amann records the results of his experience of the effects of the 
Koch injection treatment from the examination of the sputa of 288 
patients. 
(1) The quantity of sputa is as a rule increased after the reaction. 
(2) The number of the tubercle bacilli considerably increased. In 
seventeen cases where numerous examinations had previously failed to 
reveal the presence of bacilli, the sputum was afterwards found to 
contain the tubercle bacillus. In four patients the number of bacilli 
was obviously diminished. 
(3) The medium exerts an unmistakable influence on the shape of 
the bacillus. By this the author means that the bacilli are changed 
into micrococci, or are seen as shapeless lumps of quite short, often 
punctiform bacilli. 
(4) In certain cases their specific resistance to decolorizing reagents 
is diminished. 
( 5) In forty per cent, of the cases the quantity of elastic fibres found 
in the sputum is markedly increased. 
Spongy Cheese.}: — Dr. E. de Freudenreich gives the name of Bacillus 
Schafferi to a micro-organism which he has found to be the exciting 
cause of the swelling of cheese. The swelling is due to a large number 
of holes of variable size, and these holes are formed by the gaseous 
products of colonies of bacilli, whereby the cheese becomes larger, soft, 
and spongy (boursouflement, fromage mille trous). The bacillus is 
about 1 n broad, and in length varies from 2-3 /x, although filaments of 
20-25 /x were observed. It is extremely mobile, stains well with 
anilin dyes, and is easily cultivated on gelatin, agar, potato, and 
bouillon. It is somewhat sensitive to heat, desiccation, and antiseptics. 
It grows well in the absence of air, and in the presence of hydrogen, 
* Ziegler’s Beitr'age zur Path. Anat. u. zur Allgem. Pathol., ix., No. 2. See 
Centralbl. f. Bakteriol u. Parasitenk., ix. (1891) p. 274. 
f Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., ix. (1891) pp. 1-3. 
♦ Ann. de Microgr., iii. (1891) pp. 161-77 (1 pi.). 
