392 J. RUSSELL ESTY 



Simonds, 1915, based his classification upon a study of 30 

 strains according to their fermentative ability in inulin and 

 glycerol broths and their ability to sporulate in neutral media 

 containing these substances. He was able to divide the group 

 into four sub-groups, but he concludes that the source of the 

 culture is no indication of the sub-group to which it belongs 

 although all strains isolated from cow feces and milk fall into the 

 same sub-group. 



2. Experimental. The results obtained by this study of over 

 100 strains isolated from different sources show two possibilities 

 for the classification of Clostridium Welchii, namely, (1) the 

 fermentative reactions in glycerol and inulin broth with sporu- 

 lation in these media and (2) the frequency curves derived from 

 the fermentation of the carbohydrates, glucose, galactose, lactose, 

 maltose, sucrose, starch, dextrin and liver broth. Classification 

 of the Clostridium Welchii group could not be effected by the use 

 of such factors as, longevity in different sugars and nutrient 

 broth, sporulation in media of different reactions ranging from 

 10 per cent acid to 3 per cent alkaline media, thermal death 

 points of vegetative and spore forms, fermentation with acid 

 production in liver media containing the above named carbo- 

 hydrates, pathogenicity and its relation to virulent and avirulent 

 types, fermentative reactions in protein-free media, liquefaction 

 of gelatin and blood serum, rapidity of gas formation in liver 

 media and animals, motility and the retention of the gram 

 stain. Where variation occurred in these respects there was no 

 characteristic sufficiently stable to serve as a basis for classifi- 

 cation. In most of the tests applied, the results were constant 

 throughout and showed the same characteristic with little or 

 no variation. 



The pathological study of the organism, as has been discussed 

 in a previous section, reveals interesting and enlightening facts 

 yet they fail to show any characteristic classification. In all 

 cultures isolated from human feces very rapid pathogenic results 

 follow, while from the cow, varying results are obtained. For 

 the most part, however, the bacillus isolated from cow feces 

 fails to set up a characteristic fatal necrosis of the subcutaneous 

 tissue. 



