252 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
tuber are first characterized by an acid reaction, the result of the for- 
mation of carbonic and butyric acids, and afterwards by the alkaline 
reaction, due to the decomposition of albuminoid matters and the pro- 
duction of ammonia, methylamin, trimethylamin, &c. These bases neu- 
tralize the butyric acid, and when in excess they mark the second period 
of chemical change. The general character of these fermentations 
excited the suspicion that the bacillus might not be identical with the 
Bacillus butyricus Hueppe. This doubt was set at rest by inoculating 
sterilized milk, but the only change set up was the coagulation of the 
casein. 
Experimental Angiocholitis.*— M5I. Charrin and Roger succeeded 
by injecting bouillon cultivations of Bad. coli commune in exciting 
suppurative inflammation in the bile-ducts of rabbits. The results were 
different according as cultivations virulent or attenuated by saprophytic 
growth were injected. In the former case the animals died in 2-3 
days ; in the latter they remained alive, and were killed at various 
periods. In rabbits killed after eight days the gall-bladder was filled 
with pus, and the liver bestudded with miliary abscesses. Microscopi- 
cally a pronounced pericholangitis was observed. In animals treated 
with virulent cultures, besides the inflammation about bile-ducts, small 
abscesses iu the hepatic lobules were found. Suppurative inflammation 
of the bile-ducts may therefore be excited by Bad. coli commune, and 
its behaviour in the liver is not so harmless as in the intestine. 
Claim of priority on a point in connection with the Immunity 
question.!— Prof. Ogata now claims that he was before Behring and 
Kitasato in indicating that the toxines of diphtheria and tetanus are 
destroyed by cell-free blood. Indication, however, is hardly explanation, 
and it would seem that the author’s claim is limited to indicating that 
what was true for anthrax might be true for other diseases and for other 
animals. 
C in nt noham, D. D.— On some species of Choleraic Comma-bacilli occurring’ in 
Calcutta. Sdentif. Mem. of Med. Ojjic. of India, 1891, pp. 1-47. 
De Christmas, J. — Etudes sur les substances microbicides du serum et des 
organes d’animaux a sang chaud. (Studies on tho Mierobicide Substances of the 
Serum and Organs of Warm-blooded Animals.) Ann. Inst. Pasteur, V. p 487. 
Di bief, H. — Sur la biologie comparee du bacille typhique [bacille d'Eberth- 
Gaffkv] et du Bacillus coli communis. Leur action sur les sucres. (On the com- 
parative Biology of the Bacillus of Typhus [Bacillus of Eberth-Gaffky] and of 
the Bacillus coli communis. Their Action on Sugars.) 
Compt. Rend. Soc. de Biol., 1891, pp. 675-80. 
Dr Cazal et Vaillard. — Sur une maladie parasitaire de l'hrmme transmissible 
du lapin. (Ou a Parasitic Malady of Man transmissible from the Rabbit.) 
Ann. Inst. Pasteur, V. p. 353. 
G eissler, F. K. — On the Action of Light on Bacteria. 
Wratsch, 1S91, pp. 793-7 (Russian). 
* La Semaine Med., 1891, p. 71. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xi. 
(1892) pp. 114-5. 
t Deutsch. Med. Wocbensihr., 1S91, No. 16. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk, x. (1891) pp. 754-5. 
