312 J. S. LAWRENCE AND W. W. FORD 



clearing to a port-wine fluid. No coagulation. Later straw- 

 colored. 



Peptone. Faint turbidity and sediment with rarely a slight 

 ring growth. 



Potato. Thick, moist, abundant, gelatinous, yellowish-brown 

 growth. 



Blood serum. Thin, spreading, whitish growth. No lique- 

 faction. 



Fermentation tubes. Glucose. Turbidity in open bulb. No 

 scum, arm clear. Reaction neutral or slightly acid. 



Saccharose. Faint turbidity in bulb. No scum. Arm clear. 

 Reaction alkaline. 



Lactose. Faint turbidity in bowl. No scum. No growth 

 in closed arm. Reaction alkaline. 



Thermal death point. In the Krai culture the spore survived 

 steaming in the Arnold steriUzer for 15 minutes. They with- 

 stood a pressure of 15 pounds in the autoclave but were destroyed 

 by 16 pounds pressure. In our own isolation the spores sur- 

 vived 10 pounds in the autoclave but were killed by 12 pounds 

 pressure. They survived 15 minutes steaming in the Arnold 

 sterihzer but were killed by 30 minutes steaming. 



Bacillus fusiformis^ Gottheil 1901 



This organism was first described by Gottheil (1901) in 1901. 

 A transfer from Gottheil's original was obtained from Krai's 

 Laboratory in Vienna. Fourteen organisms corresponding closely 

 to Gottheil's isolation were obtained in Baltimore, two from 

 milk, four from dust, two from water, five from soil and one 

 from contaminated hirudin. The present description apphes 

 to all of them. 



* Bacillus fusiformis has practically the same morphology and the same cul- 

 tural reactions as the organism described in 1909 by Jordan and Harris as the 

 cause of milksickness and named by them Bacillus lactimorhi (Journal of In- 

 fectious Diseases, Vol. 6, No. 4, September 20, 1909, p. 401). A culture of Bacillus 

 lactimorhi received from the Winslow collection in New York does not differ 

 appreciably in its reactions from the strains of Bacillus fusiformis in our labora- 

 tory. Without a thorough study of pathogenicity, however, it is impossible to 

 state whether the organisms found by us are identical with Bacillus lactimorhi 

 or not. 



