60 
FRANK 8. BILLINGS. 
plague schizophytse I am at a loss. * * * They are not bac¬ 
teria—by which he means rods—because the single cells are 
round.” (Of this even he does not feel certain, for he immediate¬ 
ly says): ct They can hardly be considered micrococci, because 
in their developed form they are bispherical,” p. 185. On page 
186 of the same report, Detmers gives a description of this object, 
as sent by him, which should remove every doubt that the right of 
priority of discovery belongs to him, and that whatever I may 
have done to add to this knowledge is due to the extreme educa¬ 
tional advantages that I have enjoyed in the latest methods of 
bacteriological investigations under the best masters in Europe. 
Detmers further says: “ The swine plague schizophytse 
present themselves in different shape and form. The simplest 
form, it seems, is that of the micrococcus, a small round globule, 
which strongly refracts the light. The second form is bispherical , 
(This is his great error, as this is the first or mature form of the 
organism—B)the globular cell, micrococcus, has duplicated itself. 
The globular or spherical cell, or micrococcus grows and becomes 
somewhat oval in shape, but keeps on growing, while the indenta¬ 
tion becomes deeper, still its length is about twice its width, and its 
shape bispherical. For some time, however, the bilateral indenta¬ 
tion does not effect a complete separation; a connection between 
the two spherical cells remains sometimes only for a short time, 
sometimes longer. The bilateral indentation becomes deeper, 
while at the same time the single cells commence to grow and 
assume a somewhat oval shape, and in both another bilateral in¬ 
dentation becomes visible. Meanwhile the separation in the 
middle becomes perfect, and soon one bispherical cell has devel¬ 
oped into two bispherical cells, or micrococci, which are yet slightly 
connected; at any rate they remain together, although the separa¬ 
tion appears to be perfect, as each cell presents its own outline.” 
Ibid, p. 187. 
My attention was called to a later publication upon this sub¬ 
ject by Dr. Detmers, in the American Naturalist , vol. 16, by Dr. 
J. M. Heard, Y.S., of New York city, and I am indebted to 
Prof. C. E. Bessey, Dean of the Industrial College of the Univer¬ 
sity, for the use of the volume in question. 
