

(J3 



STUDIES RELATIVE TO THE APPARENT CLOSE 



RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BACT. PERTUSSIS 



AND B. BRONCHISEPTICUSi 



I. CULTURAL AGGLUTINATION AND ABSORPTION REACTIONS 



N. S. FERRY AND ARLYLE NOBLE 

 Research Department, Parke, Davis and Companij, Detroit, Michigan 



Mallory and his associates in I9I2 and I9I3, while attempting 

 to prove the relationship of Bad. pertussis to whooping cough by 

 animal inoculations, found that the problem was much more 

 complicated than anticipated, their interpretations being clouded 

 by the introduction into the question of the Bacillus bronchi- 

 septicus, as a result of its presence in some of the animals used for 

 experimental purposes. 



During the discussion of the paper by Mallory the observation 

 was made by Dr. J. L. Rhea, that the lesions in pertussis in the 

 human being, due to the bacterium of Bordet are similar to the 

 lesions in the dog, which result from an infection with B. hronchi- 

 septicus, the cause of distemper, and that this fact suggested an 

 interesting relationship between the two organisms. Later, 

 Mallory states. 



Further experimental work is evidently needed in order to clear up 

 the subject. The two organisms closely resemble each other mor- 

 phologically and in cultures on potato blood agar, but can be distin- 

 guished by their difference in motility and their alkali production in 

 litmus milk. 



Soon after the appearance of the work of Mallory, the writers 

 started some experimental work with the two organisms in ques- 

 tion, to determine, if possible, just how close was this relationship 

 which apparently existed between them. 



1 Presented at Eighteenth Annual Meeting of the Society of American Bacte- 

 riologists, New Haven, Conn., December 27-29, 1916'. 



193 



THE JOURNAL OF BACTERIOLOGr. VOL. Ill, NO. 3 



ttOl A.I 



