^mMJarch,T902.rm'}    Re  cent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  147 
which  soda  is  added  in  slight  excess,  producing  a  violet  color 
(Peptone). 
Control  reaction :  The  filtrate  from  the  urine  saturated  with 
ammonium  sulphate  is  diluted  with  equal  volumes  of  water  and 
acetic-acid-tannin,  which  forms  a  precipitate. 
W.  S.  Weakley. 
THE  IDENTIFICATION  OF  TYPHOID  BACILLI. 
Hayaschikawa  found,  Apoth.-Zeit.,  1901,  p.  734,  that  by  the  use  of 
urine  gelatine  nutrient  media,1  he  was  able  to  dintinguish  a  colony 
of  typhoid  bacilli  from  a  colony  of  the  common  colon  bacilli  with 
which  the  typhoid  bacilli  are  often  mixed,  and  which  are  often  mis- 
taken one  for  the  other,  especially  in  inexperienced  hands.  These 
investigations  were  carried  out  with  a  3-3  per  cent,  urine  gelatin 
and  the  bacilli  were  grown  at  a  temperature  of  220  C.  The  urine 
gelatin  media  must  not  be  too  old,  the  temperature  must  be  uni- 
form, and  the  colonies  must  not  be  planted  too  closely  together  to 
get  the  characteristic  frayed  margin  of  the  deeper  colonies  of  these 
two  bacilli. 
A  discrimination,  however,  can  be  made  between  these  two 
bacilli  as  follows  :  First,  by  the  size,  for  the  typhoid  colonies  in  the 
same  stage  of  development  are  from  one-fourth  to  one-half  times 
smaller  than  the  colon  colonies.  Secondly,  by  the  color,  for  the 
typhoid  colony  remains  a  clear  yellow  for  about  forty-five  hours, 
whilst  the  colon  colony  appears  much  darker.  Thirdly,  by  the 
nature  of  these  thread-like  appendages2  constituting  the  frayed 
margin  ;  with  the  typhoid  colonies  these  threads  are  much  longer, 
more  delicate  and  more  twisted  than  in  the  colon  colonies  in  which 
they  appear  shorter,  more  quickly  thickened,  plaited  and  are  less 
strongly  twisted. 
1  Sometimes  a  crystal  formation  interferes  with  this  thread-like  formation,  and, 
as  a  remedy,  the  urates  and  phosphates  should  be  separated  before  the  urine 
is  added  to  the  gelatin.  The  writer  proceeds  as  follows  :  Allow  the  urates  to 
separate  by  cooling  the  fresh  and  normal  urine,  filter,  make  alkaline  with  a 
concentrated  sodium  hydrate  solution  and  allow  to  stand  twenty-four  hours  to 
permit  the  phosphates  to  separate.  The  last  procedure  is  not  absolutely 
necessary,  as  it  has  been  shown  that  the  phosphates  do  not  usually  precipitate 
in  a  slightly  alkaline  mixture. 
8  In  the  usual  3*3  per  cent,  meat  water  nutrient  gelatin  this  thread-formation 
ie  not  so  marked. 
