BIOLOGY OF CLOSTRIDIUM WBLCHII 379 



variation in length and thickness appears in old cultures than 

 in those freshly isolated from the body tissues, although stained 

 preparations from cultures made from body tissues, heart's 

 blood and body fluid occasionally show very long chains and 

 threads. 



2. Capsules. Capsules were demonstrated in milk or glucose- 

 liver-broth cultures made directly from body fluids or body 

 tissues, from milk or feces, but cultures grown for any length 

 of time on artificial media could not be made to form capsules 

 unless reinoculated into the animal body or grown in milk. The 

 capsule surrounds the bacterial cell and varies from one to one 

 and a half micra in thickness. Welch's special stain was employed. 



3. Staining. Clostridium Welchii stains readily with the 

 ordinary dyes such as gentian-violet, safranin, methylene blue, 

 carbol-fuchsin and eosin, either uniformly or with small un- 

 stained areas. In every case the bacilli from young cultures 

 when stained by the regular Gram's method retain their color 

 completely. 



4. Motility. Specimens prepared from glucose-liver broth 

 after incubation at 37° for periods varying from one to twenty- 

 four hours do not show motility by the use of the usual hanging- 

 drop method. No attempt was made to stain flagella. 



V. SPORE FORMATION 



1. Conditions governing sporulation. Sporulation takes place 

 in the following media: Plain peptone water, Dunham's solution, 

 peptone water plus a small amount of coagulated-egg-albumen 

 made neutral or slightly acid, a solution of 5 per cent and 10 per 

 cent coagulated-neutral-egg-albumen, a physiological salt solu- 

 tion plus coagulated-egg-albumen, nutrient gelatin and nutrient 

 agar plus a small amount of coagulated-egg-albumen, plain liver 

 broth, plain nutrient broth, plain nutrient broth plus coagulated- 

 egg-albumen, blood serum, mannitol broth, mannitol-liver broth 

 and a neutral suspension of feces. Strains of Clostridium Welchii 

 vary in their ability to form spores in glycerol and inulin broth, 

 with or without liver as a base instead of meat. 



