ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
89 
laender’s diplobacillus. On microscopical examination this microbe 
was found to be a short thick mobile rodlet, usually arranged as a 
diplobacillus, but occasionally in chains of 4-6 links. It grows at 
ordinary temperatures on the usual cultivation media, and very quickly 
at 37°. It does not liquefy gelatin, and is a facultative anaerobe. It 
is pathogenic to animals (dogs). The occurrence of this micro-organism 
is interesting, since two or three other observers have described a 
quite similar bacillus inhabiting the gall-bladder. 
Metabolism of Bacillus fluorescens liquefaciens.* — This bacillus, 
says Dr. Hoffer, is a small thin rodlet, which, as its name implies, liquefies 
gelatin, while round about the margin of the liquefied portion of the 
medium a greenish-yellow fluorescence shortly appears. 
The bacillus was cultivated in peptonized bouillon for about four 
weeks at the ordinary temperature. The bouillon was then treated by 
Brieger and Fraeukel’s method, in order to determine if any toxal- 
bumin were present. No toxalbumin was found, but the process re- 
vealed the existence of some other metabolic products, for example, 
ammonia, precipitated with platinum chloride ; kreatinin, easily detected 
by Jafle’s reaction; and a peculiar proteid obtained in the following 
manner. The concentrated bouillon was precipitated with ten times 
its volume of absolute alcohol, and after frequent purification a yellow 
powder was obtained. As this contained a considerable quantity of 
ash, it was further purified until a whitish-grey powder resulted. 
This body, which is very soluble in water, gave the characteristic 
biuret reaction with sulphate of copper and caustic soda. From this 
and other considerations it is probably not a pepton, and its most 
prominent peculiarity is that if only a trace be dissolved in water and 
then any alkali be added, a green fluorescenco exactly like that seen 
in pure cultivations of the Bacillus fluorescens liquefaciens appears. 
The condition under which this fluorescence takes place is alka- 
linity, and in the case in question this is explained by the production 
of ammonia. 
Moreover, when all the gelatin is liquefied and the bacilli form 
a whitish sediment, the fluorescence gradually dies away, but may be 
partially revived by the addition of a few drops of ammonia to the 
cultivation. 
Immunity to the Vibrio Metschnikovi.f — M. Gamaleia, who had 
already made out that the animals which enjoyed a natural immunity to 
the Vibrio Metscltnilcovi were also resistant to the toxin, has recently 
endeavoured to fathom this refractory condition. In the urine of rabbits 
which had been injected with large quantities of sterilized vibrio-culti- 
vation, the vibriotoxin could not be demonstrated. Hence it would seem 
that this property of rendering the bacterial poison harmless resides in the 
tissues of the refractory animals, and does not take place, as in sensitive 
animals, by being excreted in the urine. If the toxic fluid be rubbed 
up with the spleen of a living rabbit and the mixture kept at the body 
temperature, it loses all its poisonous properties in two to four hours but 
* S.B. Phys.-Med. Gesell. Wurzburg, 1891, pp. 35-8. 
t Le Bulletin Med., 1890, p. 1108. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitcnk x 
(1891) p. 133. ‘ 
