NOTES ON A THERMOPHILIC BACILLUS. 
BY R. EARLE BUCHANAN. 
That group of plants capable of growth and repro- 
duction at temperatures high above the normal or ordinary 
has long been an object of interest and study among 
scientists. An examination of any systematic treatise on 
the Schizophyceee will be rewarded by a considerable list 
of species that grow in hot springs, etc. In Rabenhorst’s 
‘‘Flora Europa Algarum” for instance, there are no fewer 
than thirteen genera having species or varieties character- 
ized as “thermalis,” while others are known to live in 
water having a temperature of 80°-93° C. Conspicuous 
and abundant as the Schizophyceee are in these thermal 
waters, yet they are accompanied by many less conspicu- 
ous forms, the Bacteria, Schizomycetes. These have been 
discovered and described only since the introduction of 
modern laboratory technique. 
Although these heat loving or heat tolerant Bacteria 
were first found in thermal waters, more recent investiga- 
tions have shown that these organisms have a much wider 
distribution. In the last few years many of this class have 
been isolated from a variety of sources, such as from soil 
even to a considerable depth, sewage, feces from both cold 
and warm blooded animals, dust, straw, dung, snow, air, 
milk, syrup, cheese and a variety of others. Of course, 
there is no development of the organism in these sub- 
stances at ordinary temperatures, the organisms for the 
most part being spore producers and very resistant. 
A careful study of these forms by Schillinger* has shown 
that they may be separated into two classes, somewhat 
*Hyg. Rundschau 8 :568. 1898. 
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