AND CONTENTS OF THE MOUTH. 171 



I have already stated that, in the midst of those masses 

 of filaments of the sediment in the bottles, there are preserves of 

 Vorticellas. 



Now, it is not improbable that the Spirochceta rise there from 

 the more slender filaments of the Leptothrix gigantea, and in 

 the mouth from those of Leptothrix buccalis, as I shall show 

 later ; and that the Leptothrix gigantea and the Bacillus buccalis 

 inaximiis, or Leptothrix buccalis maxima of Miller, may be the 

 same thing. I have remarked that, in the sediment from the 

 bottles, the vorticellas and filaments are never wanting; whilst the 

 Spiroehceta are found there only in summer, and then in brisk 

 motion. Hence, we may infer that the temperature may greatly 

 influence the production of the Spirilla and the Spirochaeta, as 

 Miller had argued from the cultures, and as their abundance in 

 the mouth would prove. 



I shall refer later to the Spirilla that, in certain cases, I 

 have seen accompanying the Leptothrix of the prepuce and the 

 urethra. 



Secondary Micro-Organisms. 



Leptothrix gigantea (Fig. 21 of Miller). — This form was found 

 on the teeth of a dog affected with alveolar pyorrhaea. It 

 was also found on other carnivorous and herbivorous animals. 

 It exhibits a vigorous development ; has a bushy shape, like the 

 Crenothrix', the stems of which deflect at the top, with cocci, small 

 rods and filaments sometimes alternated on the same line. The 

 stems are polymorphic of varying thickness. Some increase in 

 size towards the top ; some are partially or wholly spiral ; and 

 others double and twist as in Spirulina (Fig. 12 of the plate 

 annexed to the article of 1883). 



In this article, published in the Berichte der Deutsche?! 

 Botanischen Gesellschaft, are to be found more particulars upon 

 the microphite in question. The oldest filaments are articu- 

 lated ; some are spiral and mutually twisted at the base (Fig. i, 

 E, a). The articulations of the more slender filaments cannot 

 be detected without colourisation. There are sheathed filaments 

 whose internal articulations sometimes evacuate and form cumuli 

 of little rods of different sizes (Fig. 5) ; others become compressed 



