THE BACILLUS OF PLAGUE. in 



about three to six or even nine days, with the spread of the 

 bacilli throughout the body which on post mortem are found 

 distributed in blood, lymph, the spleen, marrow, brain, liver, 

 lungs and lymphatic glands, death generally occurs on the 

 third to the seventh day. An excellent clinical history of 

 the plague in Formosa, 1896, together with the macroscopic 

 and microscopic morbid anatomy of cases is given by 

 Yamagiwa (17). A study of the acute hemorrhagic in- 

 flammations in the organs of animals killed by the plague 

 has been made by Honl (18), who speaks of a definite pur- 

 pura pestica, which is a primary septicemic condition fatal 

 in two days, and a purpura streptococcica which is a 

 secondary hemorrhagic infection seen in later stages of the 

 disease. In the spleen and lymphatic glands, by means of 

 sections treated with hematoxylin, counter-staining with 

 concentrated aqueous solutions of methylene-blue and sub- 

 sequent impregnation with tannin, numerous accumula- 

 tions of zooglcea masses are to be found, in which the 

 separate bacilli are seen separated from each other by a 

 homogeneous envelope. From histological evidence V. 

 Babes and C. Livadite (19) consider the plague-bacillus as a 

 representative type of the group of bacteria that cause specific 

 hemorrhagic infection in man and animals. They describe 

 and figure distinct hemorrhagic zones in dilated capillary 

 districts, in which masses of bacteria are seen that have 

 broken through the walls of the vessels and so established 

 innumerable hemorrhages. They think that is not neces- 

 sary to regard these as being produced by any bacterial 

 toxin which injures the vessels, or to believe that certain 

 nerve centres are implicated and in this way produce vas- 

 cular changes, but that the characteristic hemorrhages are 

 directly produced by the pest-bacilli. It may be pointed 

 out, however, that Charrin, Unna and other observers deny 

 the existence of specific hemorrhagic bacteria, and, while not 

 disputing the facts, consider that hemorrhages are depen- 

 dent on a peculiar disposition found in certain men and 

 animals, and due to such a variety of causes that hemor- 

 rhagic bacteria, in the sense that Babes speaks of these, 

 cannot be ranked as specific micro-organisms. 



