BACILLUS SPOROGENES 555 
which is associated with a (liininution of the amiiio-nitrofjeii content 
of the medium. A sohible proteolytic enzyme, which will digest carbol 
gelatin carbolic acid (0.5), gelatin 1 per cent, is found in cultures of 
the organism in any of the protein, sugar-free media, as gelatin or 
casein, less in the ordinary peptone-meat extract media. 
Henry' states that glucose, fructose and maltose are fermented with 
the production of gas and acid. Berthelot' claims that lactose and 
mannitol are fermented as well by the Type A strain of Metchnikofl'. 
Type B, however, does not act upon this sugar. Donaldson'* hgs found 
that the Heading bacillus will ferment glucose, levulose, galactose and 
maltose; mannitol, dulcitol, lactose, saccharose, raffinose, inulin, starch 
and salicin are unattacked. Cultures obtained from presumably 
authentic sources agreed in their fermentation reactions with the results 
of Henry and Donaldson, except that all strains fermented glycerin.^ 
Cultures in brain medium are soon blackened, and the cooked meat 
medium becomes tinged with pink, and few gas bubbles appear during 
the earlier hours of incubation. Soon, however, the medium becomes 
darkened, and the bits of meat become softened, and eventually many 
disappear by solution. A foul odor de\'elops, and H2S is formed in 
appreciable amounts. 
Milk becomes coagulated, the coagulum appearing in the form of 
fine flakes. Peptonization soon starts, and the medium becomes some- 
what acid, due in part to the formation of amino-acids and also appar- 
ently to the fermentation of the small amount of glucose Avhich is a 
constituent of "normal milk. Probably there is also some cleavage of 
the milk fats with the liberation and subsequent fermentation of 
glycerin. Weinberg and Seguin^ find that some gas is formed in milk 
cultures, but Henry is not in accord with this observation. Cultures 
studied in considerable volumes of milk— 100 cc— have produced 
small amounts of gas, but in fermentation tubes (containing about 
15 cc. of medium) gas formation has been minimal. 
The products arising from the fermentation of sugars have been 
found to be H2 and CO2 in the approximate proportion of 2 to 3, and 
lactic, acetic and butyric acids appear to be the principal non-volatile 
constituents.*^ Berthelot states that some gas may be formed even in 
protein media. 
Toxin.— Soluble poisons of a specific nature have not been demon- 
strated. 
Pathogenesis. — B. sporogenes does not appear to possess pathogenic 
properties inherent in itself which would render it a specifically formi- 
dable incitant of infection. It is stated that massive injections of 
cultures— several cubic centimeters in volume— will kill experimental 
1 Jour. Pathol, and Bacteriol., 1916-1917, 21, 359. 
2 Loc. cit. ^ Loc. cit. 
* Kendall. Day and Walker: Jour. Inf. Dis., 1922, 30, No. 2. 
5 Loc. cit. 
6 Berthelot: Loc. cit. Wolf and Telfer: Biocheni. .Jour., 1917, 11, 197. 
