6S6 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
exemplify liis method, the author gives in detail the procedure for 
demonstrating the presence of lactic acid bacteria and for isolating them 
from fermenting maize. 20 grms. gelatin (or 3 4 grm. agar) are dissolved 
in veast-water made by boiling 8 grms. yeast in 100 ccm. tap water. 
5-10 grms. glucose are then added, and the mixture having been boiled 
again, it is filtered, and a few drops of whiting and water added. It 
is then poured into glass capsules, so that the layer at the bottom is 
about 1 mm. thick. 
The micro-organisms are obtained by shaking a drop of fermenting 
maize up in a flask of boiled water and then pouring the infected water 
over the chalked medium. The water is then poured off*, but sufficient 
adheres to inoculate the medium. 
As the colonies develope their immediate vicinity clears up, owing 
to the acid produced by the micro-organisms, and these transparent 
areas are visible even to the naked eye. 
In addition to whiting, the medium may be mixed with carbonates of 
magnesium, barium, strontium, manganese, zinc. The mixture of zinc 
carbonate appears to be very suitable for lactic acid bacteria. 
Besides indicating the production of acid, this method may be used 
for demonstrating the formation of alkalies. In the illustration given by 
the author of his apparatus, this production of alkali by an organism is 
shown by its power of neutralizing the acidity resulting from an acid- 
forming bacterium in an adjacent colony. 
Demonstration of Suppuration-Cocci in the Blood as an aid to 
Diagnosis.* — Baron A. von Eiselsberg describes four cases in which the 
original diagnosis was confirmed by a bacteriological examination of 
the blood. In all four cases suppuration cocci were cultivated from the 
blood ( Streptococcus pyogenes , Staphylococcus pyogenes albus, and twice 
Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus). 
Examination of the blood in five cases of laparotomy where the 
symptoms soon after the operation were unsatisfactory, failed to show 
micro-organisms — a result confirmed by the subsequent satisfactory issue 
of all the cases. In three cases of phlegmon, one of acute osteomyelitis, 
and four of septic peritonitis, the cocci could only be demonstrated in 
three instances — a result which is explained by supposing that in certain 
cases of sepsis the phenomena are due to the absorption of certain 
chemical matters from the original inflammatory focus. Moreover, it 
must be remembered that as the cocci are only sparsely present in 
circulating blood, catching a visible germ in any given drop of blood is 
not a matter of certainty. 
At any rate the author’s recommendation that the bacteriological 
examination of blood should be undertaken as a supplementary aid to 
diagnosis is a good one, for while negative results only leave the 
matter in the status quo ante, a positive result is extremely valuable. 
On a Method of Preparing Vegetable and Animal Tissues for 
Paraffin Imbedding, with a few Remarks as to Mounting Sections.t 
- — Mr. Gustav Mann writes : — “ Beguisites — I. Picro-corrosive alcohol. 
* Wiener Klin. Wochenschr., 1890, p. 731. See CentralbL f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., ix. (1891) p. 831. 
t Trans, and Proc. Bot. Soc. Edinb., xviii. (1890) pp. 432-5. 
