BY C. J. POUND, F.R.M.S. 68 



Intestines.— In some parts the mucous membrane was slightly 



inflamed : contents of the intestine appeared greenish 



yellow and somewhat stringy or gelatinous. 



Microscopical Examination of the blood from the spleen, 



liver, and heart revealed the presence of a specific bacillus, which 



was very sparsely distributed. They appeared either singly or in 



pairs ; a few were oval, while the majority were rod-shaded. 



With methylene blue, they stain uniformly and very dense, 



quite difterent to the bacteria of chicken cholera, which is 



characterised by the extreme difficulty with which it is stained. 



Moreover, the poles, or terminal part of the organism, are stained 



more deeply than the central part. 



In all cases of " fowl enteritis" that I have examined, the 

 bacilli are much thicker and longer than the chicken cholera 

 bacteria. 



CULTIVATION EXPERIMENTS. 

 A mere trace of blood taken from a freshly cut surface of the 

 liver or spleen and rubbed over the slanting surface of a tube of 

 Agar Agar always yields, after 12 hours incubation at 37deg. C, 

 a pure cultivation of colonies of the bacilli of " fowl enteritis." 

 The colonies first appear as greenish translucent dots, then they 

 spread out and become very thin and somewhat angular in 

 shape; whereas the colonies of chicken cholera bacteria are more 

 heaped up, and never look translucent, but a dirty yellowish 

 white. 



As pointed out by Klein, the chief diflerence, however, is 

 shown in the rate of growth. The colonies of chicken cholera 

 grow conspicuously slower and remain smaller than those of the 

 " fowl enteritis" bacillus. 



Gelatine culture media is not liquified by the "fowl 

 enteritis" bacillus. 



In faintly alkaline beef broth kept at 37deg. C, the growing 

 bacilli cause a uniform turbidity which gradually increases, and, 

 compared with that of chicken cholera, produces a greater 

 amount of whitish precipitate in the broth culture. Broth 

 cultures of " fowl enteritis" bacillus have a tendency to become 

 clear in the superficial layer, while those of chicken cholera 

 always remain turbid throughout. 



