This substance appears to be able to kill all of the bacilli which are coloured by the dye test devised by Christian Gram. Dubos has therefore named it gramicidin. He has found thet an mie of 1,000,000th of a gram of gramicidin will save the life of a mouse containing a quantity of virulent pneumonia bacilli equal to 10.000 fatal doses. In fact, pneumonia bacilli will not grow in a broth which contains one part of gramicid in 1,000,000,000. Dubos has also found that gramicidin is effective of the type which produce boils and to a less extent gonorrhoea and meningitis, Dubos suggests that the effect depends on some common structural peculiarity of all bacilli which become coloured under the Gram test. He believes that an analysis of this peculiarity may reveal important facts about the structure of bacilli which will in turn provide new ways of improving antiseptics for killing them.
Micro-organisms are capable of performing many chemical actions that are beyond the power of plants and animals, and, indeed, it seems that within the realm of nature and the soil it may be possible to find the appropriate micro-organism for performing any desired biochemical action. It is therefore reasonable to hope that the innumerable and various bacterial inhabitants of the soil will be made to furnish chemical agents which can kill the intractable bacili! of dangerous diseases with which plants and s are incapable of dealing. The application of gramicidin in human medicine is awaited with the utmost interest, The scientific imagination and technical skill that have led to its discovery are worth; Liebig and Pasteur.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.