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954 
types as insignificant, but in spite of the observations of all of these 
authors, the German observers have usually considered the Kruse type as 
the only one which has a causal relationship to acute dysentery. I think 
this view is held because of the fact that in Germany no attempt has been 
made to observe the fermentation reactions more in detail or more com- 
pletely to compare the agglutinative and bacteriolytic characters of the 
different strains. 
Lentz (21) in his last paper on this subject, although recognizing the 
acid bacilli as probably being the cause of a variety of acute, epidemic 
dysentery, agrees with Jurgens (22), Morgenroth (23), and other authors 
in refusing to consider these bacilli in the same group with the so-called 
non-acid bacilli (Shiga-Kruse strain). He says, in his contribution to 
Kolle and Wassermann’s “Handbuch der pathogenen Microérganismen” : 
Nach den Untersuchungen von Gay, Park und Carey, besonders aber nach den 
neueren Forschungen von Morgenroth, Jurgens sowie Deycke und Reschad Effendi, 
gewinnt es immer mehr an Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass auch der von Flexner auf 
den Philippinen gefundene Erreger der Ruhr angesprochene Bacillus als selb- 
stiindiger Krankheitserreger neben dem Shiga-Kruseschen Ruhrbacillus auf der 
Erde weit verbreitet und im Stande ist, Ruhrepidemien hervorzurufen. 
But again he adds: 
Auf diesen Umstand (d. h. Agglutinationsverhiiltnisse) ist auch die irrige 
Annahme von Shiga, Kruse, Flexner und Foulerton zuriickzufiihren, dass die 
von Shiga, Kruse, Flexner und Strong gefundenen Stiibchen untereinander iden- 
tisch seien, ein Irrthum, zu dem sie dadurch verfiihrt wurden, dass sie Rekon- 
valeszentenserum zum Nachweiss der Identitit dieser kulturell sehr “tihnlichen 
Bacterien” verwandten. 
However, after considering the results of my own experiments, which 
will be related in this paper, I can not regard Lentz’s view as correct, 
nor can I see any reason for considering any organism which causes dysen- 
tery to be a pseudo-dysentery bacillus or for the justification of the use of 
the terms acid and non-acid dysentery bacilli. 
Instead of accepting the views of Lentz and of Kruse, it seems rather 
that we are compelled to consider the dysentery bacilli of all types 
(fifteen, according to my observations) as constituting a single group 
of dysentery organisms; in which, however, variations in toxicity, viru- 
lence, and even pathological properties between certain strains may exist. 
The object of the present paper is to communicate the results of a 
comparative study of the fermentative properties and the agglutinative 
and bacteriolytic reactions of the different strains of bacilli which are 
now generally considered to be the etiological factor in acute dysentery 
and the allied intestinal conditions. The results of the examination 
of the virulence, the pathological-anatomical lesions produced, together 
with the clinical features of the human cases of infection with the dif- 
ferent strains, will be considered elsewhere. 
