174 SEVENTH REPORT. 



met with. Aiiotlicr iiistauee of long threads of apparently nou-niotile 

 rods on the original plates, which on subculture broke up into shorter 

 threads and individual cells with undoubted motility is mentioned in the 

 literature. In that case as in this, the non-motile long thread charac- 

 teristic did not return. It may be stated here that the length of the 

 threads and the degree of motility vary on different media. The rounded 

 end character of the cells is not met with throughout, but many fields 

 will show bacilli with sijuared ends, ])articularly those in threads, and 

 others with rounded ones. Also, frequently whole fields of non-motile 

 bacilli will be observed, Avitli only here and there occasional motile rods 

 and short chains. 



The gelatine plates are rapidly liquefied. The colonies are irregular and none having 

 a typical medusa-head appearance were met with on this medium. On gelatine the germ 

 tends to become somewhat longer and narrower, and thread formation is more marked 

 and the motility less so than on agar. 



On inclined agar the appearance is at first that of the true anthrax bacillus but the 

 growth spreads more rapidly and extensively than does the latter. In old cultures the 

 agar becomes darkened. 



In gelatine stal) there results a rapid liquefaction, which at first funnel-shaped soon 

 becomes cylindrical and eventually involves the entire contents. A surface growth forms 

 which is less viscous than that of B. anthracis. This breaks up quite readily, increasing 

 the sediment. In no instance have I observed the branching, root-like growth from the 

 line of inoculation into the surrounding gelatine. Of course the true anthrax bacillus does 

 not always show this characteristic. 



Bouillon l^ecomes clouded in five or six hours at 37 °C. and later clears with the formation 

 of a sediment and a surface pellicle. The surface growth breaks up and sinks on gentle 

 shaking, leaving an adherent surface ring. A new pellicle may form. 



On potato the growth is slightly moist, possibly dryish, and somewhat glistening. It is 

 not folded. Spores are very abundant. The rods show a tendency toward involution 

 forms. 



Milk is coagulated in 24 to 48 hours without the production of acidity. The coagulum 

 is later peptonized. 



Inoculations of mice and guinea pigs, although made with large quantities of the germ, 

 proved uniformly non-fatal. Large doses produced a local lesion, an ulcerated sore, which 

 healed up in the course of about two weeks. 



In 1889 Hueppe and Wood' called attention to the existence of B. anthracoides which 

 they isolated from soil and water. This germ differed from B. anthracis only in that its 

 ends were more rounded, and its growth was more rapid. It was devoid of pathogenic 

 effects toward mice and guinea pigs. This germ was not motile. By means of large doses 

 local effects could be produced in guinea pigs. They reported that true anthrax bacilli 

 could be attenuated by passage through mice which previously had been inoculated with B. 

 anthracoides and also that mice could be fully imnumized against anthrax by means of 

 this bacillus. They reported likewise the successful immunization of guinea pigs. In 

 one or two cases in which death resulted in the j^resumably immune animals, the anthrax 

 bacillus isolated was found to be attenuated. 



This germ differs materially from the one described bv Bainbridge - in 1902 under the 

 same name — B. anthracoides. The latter possessed motility — flagella were demonstrated. 

 There was no spiking in gelatine. It was pathogenic for mice and produced a local affection 

 in guinea pigs. Culturally it resembled closely the germ isolated here. 



In the same year (1889) Klein ^ observed two anthrax-like bacilli, B. sessilis and B. 

 leptosporus — the former from material derived from a cow dying of suspected anthrax, 

 the latter as a contaminating germ. The former was non-pathogenic for guinea pigs. The 

 chai'acteristics of these two organisms on solid media were not described. 



Wahrlich ■* in 1890-91 isolated from water from a waste-pipe a non-motile anthrax-like 

 germ having ends slightly more rounded and spores more spherical than those of B. an- 

 thracis. The threads also were more distinctly jointed. In other respects it was practi- 

 cally identical with B. anthracis. The pathogenesis was not reported. 



In 1894 Burri^ isolated from South American " Fleischfuttermehl" a motile bacillus 

 presenting in general the same characteristic as the one with which we have been working. 

 This likewise was non-pathogenic for mice. 



In 1897 Hartleb and Stutzer** investigated "Fleischfuttermehl" to determine whether 

 the B. pseiidanthracis of Burri is a constant saprophyte in this substance, or whether it is an 



