149 
lisliecl by Drs. Cavara and Briosi, showing the section of a tumor with 
the location of the bacilli in the tissues, as well as the germs themselves 
as seen in the stained preparations on the slide. I was shown while at 
Pavia the preparations from which the sketches were drawn, and will 
say they are fairly represented in the figures given. To supplement 
this there have been added figures from my own material and photo¬ 
graphs of affected olive branches, showing the location and various 
stages of the tumors in situ. 
Dr. Savastano’s account of the disease is as follows: 
In my study of tlie tuberculosis of the olive (commonly scab of the olive)* I estab¬ 
lished the presence of a pathogenic microorganism in the tumors, cultivated it, in¬ 
oculated with it, and obtained by means of it the formation of tumors. I explained 
that owing to circumstances over which I had no control I was unable to complete 
the study of this microorganism with tbe thoroughness which bacteriology requires. 
Having obtained the means for undertaking the researches in the bacteriological 
laboratory of the Zoological Station at Naples,! I have resumed the study which I 
was reluctantly obliged to leave incomplete. 
The characteristics of the pathogenic microorganism of the tuberculosis of the olive 
are the following : The cultures are made in a way to avoid error only when incipient 
tumors are used. If they are made from old tumors it is necessary to take the inner 
part of the cambium zone. Taking the external part, only the microorganisms of 
the air are found. 
This microorganism is a Bacillus of medium size; length three to four times its 
width ; it is isolated, but is sometimes joined into chains ; the extremities are slightly 
rounded off. In drops of bouillon it has a distinct movement. The colony has a 
variable form, from round to oval, with a well-defined margin. In the beginning it 
is uniformly pointed; later it forms one or two peripheral circles. It is whitish by 
reflected light, cedar-color bj’ transmitted light. The bacillus lives well in ordinary 
culture media (bouillon, potato, gelatine, agar). I have attempted to make another 
medium for culture with material taken from the olive. It did not prove very suit¬ 
able, and the preceding media are preferred. Gelatine does not liquefy in our climate 
from January to April; from May to June it liquefies slowly. The culture has a rela¬ 
tively long life ; cultures made in March were still living in June. In short, degene¬ 
ration begins in about 3 mouths. The bacillus stains very well with simple aniline 
colors. I have not been able to establish a distinct spore formation. The method of 
double staining does not succeed very well, because the cell wall takes up the aniline 
colors more easily and gives them up with greater difficulty than the microorganisms. 
On the potato it lives very well and develops rapidly ; the colonies are at first like 
so many small round dots, translucent straw-color, which, as they develop, form on 
the surface of the potato a uniform stratum, translucent, and of a deeper color. The 
bacillus acquires greater dimensions. 
On the gelatine plates it lives very well, with characters and forms as above 
indicated. In tubes of gelatine a lucco the culture presents the appearance of a 
uniform stratum, whitish, the margin finely bilobed, reminding one of the margin of 
a leaf, the whole culture taking the form of a spatulate leaf. It is slightly dichroic. 
* Tubercolosi , iperplasie e turnori delV olivo. I. II. Memoria. Annuario R. Scuola 
Sup. d’Agricoltura in Portici, Vol. v, fasc. 4, 1887. 
t The equipment for bacteriological work in the Naples Station has been but re¬ 
cently added, we believe. The station now has the facilities for doing good work of 
this class. Mr. H. Linden, in charge of the station, who has our thanks for courtesies 
extended during our stay at Naples, fully convinced us, after a careful inspection of 
the laboratories and general accommodations of the institution, of tho desirability 
of more American students reaping the benefit of the advantages there offered.—N. 
B. P. 
