374 LAURA FLORENCE 



during the winter of 1918-1919. In the cultures of motile forms, 

 viz., Bacillus cereus, Bacillus mesentericus-fuscus, Bacillus mes- 

 entericus-vulgatus (2 strains), and a bacillus isolated from the lung 

 of a calf and designated ''Organism A, " non-motile spiral bodies 

 resembling spirochetes were frequently seen. None such were 

 found in the cultures of non-motile forms being studied. x\ll 

 the cultures were grown on plain agar slants and the tubes were 

 closed immediately after inoculation with paraffin-dipped cotton 

 stoppers cut off level with the top of the tube and then pushed 

 down approximately tV inch below the top. The mouth of the 

 tube was flamed until thoroughly hot, when a small amount of 

 seahng wax was placed over the stopper. This was absorbed by 

 stopper and, when the tube had cooled, the space above the stop- 

 per was filled with sealing wax care being taken to leave no air 

 bubbles. Several series of cultures were also grown in bouillon 

 sealed in the same way as the agar. 



Spiral bodies were found in cultures of all five organisms, but 

 they appeared with greatest regularity in the two strains of 

 Bacillus mesentericus-vulgatus, in cultures of which Loeffler (1889) 

 had also found them. At first it was thought that they were to 

 be found only in sealed tubes, but later it was discovered that 

 they were always present in the condensation water of twenty to 

 twenty-four hour unsealed cultures of Bacillus mesentericus- 

 vulgatus. They were also found in unsealed cultures of Bacillus 

 mesentericus-fuscus and Bacillus cereus after the third day. They 

 were seen first in hanging drops made from the condensation water, 

 but were not found in smears made from the same and stained 

 wdth methylene blue or carbol fuchsin. However, in smears 

 stained after Loeffler 's method they were always found well 

 stained; but, if Johnston and Mack's modified method was fol- 

 lowed they were not found, doubtless because they had disin- 

 tegrated during the prolonged incubation in sterile water. Even 

 in young cultures spirals of different sizes were seen, but very large 

 ones, similar to those of the bacillus of black leg photographed by 

 Loeffler, Vv'ere found only in sealed cultures after an incubation 

 period of fourteen to twenty days. In these large spirals striations 

 parallel to their longitudinal axis were frequently seen. Their 



