The quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC) are complex organic compounds possessing great surface activity and germicidal properties. At the present time there are hundreds of preparations on the market in the United States and about 100 licensed for sale in Canada which are compounded from or are composed entirely of one of the many QAC available. About 45 per cent of those available in Canada are composed in whole or in part of di-isobutylphenoxyethoxyethyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride which, for brevity, will be referred to as Hyamine 1622, the trade name given this substance by the manufacturers, Rohm and Haas of Philadelphia, Pa.

Microorganisms play a major role in the decomposition of complex organic materials formed in the course of the development of higher plants and animals. Even complex high polymers that are products of the modern synthetic laboratory are known to serve as microbial substrates under appropriate test conditions (Zobell, 1946; Quastel, 1959). The failure of the accumulation of organic materials, except under conditions not favourable for decomposition, is ample evidence for the turnover of elemental substances. Thus the occurrence of an organic material either in a natural or synthetic condition of necessity makes it subject to biological transformations for an effective balance of the world’s supply of available elements.

In the early period of microbiology, little attention was paid to marine microorganisms. In spite of the knowledge that life originated in the sea which covers the greater part of the earth's surface, little or no attempt was made to study the nature and activity of bacteria in the oceans. It was the end of the 19th century when Ehrenberg, Certes, Fischer and Russel, pioneer workers of marine bacteriology, published their studies in this field. Although marine bacteriology received more and more attention following the days of the pioneers, the research was mostly limited to general observations such as taxonomy, distribution, cultural characteristics, enumeration, etc., consequently very little information became available on the biochemistry of marine bacteria.

The ruminant animal, by virtue of the population of active microorganisms which is supported in the rumen, can utilize a much wider range of nitrogen containing substances for body maintenance and production than can the monogastric animal. The rumen microorganisms, chiefly the bacteria, synthesize microbial protein of high biological value from non-protein nitrogen sources in the rumen, and this becomes available to the host animal by normal processes of protein digestion in the abomasum. The animal is therefore not entirely dependent upon dietary protein to satisfy its nitrogen requirements; indeed expansive dietary protein may be conserved by feeding cheaper non-protein supplements to ruminants.

In his studies on the isolated cell envelope or a marine pseudomonad, Brown (1960, 1961) observed decreases in the turbidity or suspensions or the cell envelopes when these were incubated at low buffer concentrations. Turbidity changes did not take place when the buffer concentration was increased. These decreases in turbidity or the cell envelope suspensions he interpreted to being due to degradation or the cell envelopes. A number or soluble products were released when the cell envelopes were incubated. The nature or these suggested to Brown that their release was due to the action or an enzyme. Since the release or these compounds was prevented by high buffer concentration, Brown suggested that lysis of the whole cells was due to the action of an enzyme residing in the cell envelope. Prevention of lysis of the whole cells by high salt concentration would then be due to the inhibition by salts of the action of a lytic enzyme.

Nitrogen tantalizes mankind with the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty. All living things on this planet must have nitrogen in their food. The earth’s atmosphere contains far more than enough nitrogen to satisfy the requirement, yet relatively few of the species populating the earth are able to metabolize nitrogen from the atmosphere. This circumstance gives rise to important ecologic and economic consequences, and poses challenging questions for several branches of science. The first isolation of free living nitrogen fixing bacteria by Winogradsky and Beijernck stimulated attempts to assess the importance of non-symbiotic nitrogen fixation in the nitrogen economy of the soil. Though numerous papers have accumulated, they also provide opportunities for controversy ranging from polite disagreement to acrimonious debate, and most of them need careful reevaluation.

Coumarin (2-oxo-1,2-benzopynpl), a lactone of o-hydroxy-dis-cinnamic acid is a naturally occurring constituent of certain plants, especially sweet clover. Coumarin, present in "spoilt" clover, is sometimes ingested by livestock causing a haemorrhagic condition. Stahmann et al. (1941) identified dicoumarol as the active principle involved. Due to the strong structural relationship of dicoumarol with coumarin, Robert and Link (1937) believed that dicoumarol was formed from coumarin. Many of the coumarin derivatives are pharmacologically active and include anticoagulant drugs, rodenticides and insecticides. Due to its bitter taste and vanilla-like odour, coumarin itself has been employed for flavouring foods but its use has been discouraged owing to its damaging effect on the liver of animals.

By employing Koch's postulates, certain strains of Escherichia coli have been proven to cause enteritis of early weaned pigs. 1. Two strains of hemolytic E. coli were isolated consistently and in large numbers from the fecal samples of early weaned pigs that scoured shortly after weaning. 2. Symptoms of enteritis were reproduced artificially by contaminating the drinking water of the pigs with a live culture of one of the two strains of E. coli. The same strain of E. coli was isolated in very large numbers from the fecal samples of artificially infected animals. 4. The infection of this strain of E. coli was transmitted naturally by housing susceptible animals with the scouring animals. A hypothesis is put forward that certain strains of E. coli occur frequently as part of the normal intestinal microflora of swine and behave as typical infectious agents when suitable conditions for their growth are provided.

The etiology of endemic pneumonia in rats has been investigated, and the specific cause of the condition was established. A viral agent was isolated in rat embryo skin primary tissue cultures, and postulates have been fulfilled for identifying this viral agent with endemic pneumonia in rats. Some characteristics of this virus were established. A method for demonstrating the cytopathogenic agent, involving two-step incubation of inoculated tissue cultures at two different temperatures has been described. This technique was successfully employed for the isolation of the virus responsible for endemic pneumonia in rats.

The Canadian lobster catch is worth approximately twenty-five million dollars annually. Of this total, two-thirds is from live shipment to distant markets. Prior to shipment the lobsters are held in tidal pounds, crates, tanks and cars. During this holding prior to shipment, the lobsters are susceptible to a number or factors such as temperature extremes, low salinity, low oxygen tension, cannibalism and disease. [...]