THE MICRO OiiGAMSMS WHICH OCCUR IN SEPTICiEMIA. 69 



changes apparent are a material enlargement of the spleen, 

 which is invariable, and amounts to one third or more of its 

 normal weight ; the liver too, in some cases at least, shows 

 incipient degeneration, an atrophy of the hepatic cells, though 

 this change is not very pronounced in the subjects I have 

 examined. The other organs are to all appearance healthy ; 

 blood too from the heart, taken and examined under the 

 microscope, appears at first sight normal, the red corpuscles 

 behave as usual, and there is no marked difference in the 

 proportion of leucocytes.^ On one occasion, however, I observed 

 in the fresh blood of an infected mouse, examined at the 

 temperature of the air, which at that time was between 60° and 

 70° r., an exceedingly fine filamentous process, in constant 

 undulating movement, evolved from one of the red corpuscles, 

 the diameter of which it exceeded in length; its tenuity was such 

 that under a power of 700 diameters I could not distinguish 

 whether it was truly filamentous or beaded ; in appearance it 

 was exactly like a spirillum or vibrio, and I should have taken it 

 for an independent living organism had I not been familiar with 

 the appearance of protoplasmic filaments which under certain 

 conditions are produced from the red blood-corpuscles ; these, 

 which I would designate as " Addison's processes," from their 

 first observer, have been fully described elsewhere f' their appear- 

 ance is an indication of a pathological condition of the blood ; in 

 normal blood they only occur on the addition of certain reagents 

 or a greatly increased temperature.^ 



Although in the blood and organs examined in the ordinary 

 manner nothing more than above mentioned is observable, 

 when these are prepared by special methods and examined 

 microscopically under adequate powers, it is found that minute 



' It is, however, deficient in oxygen, as shown by the colour; the 

 true cause of this, with some other points, requires careful investigation. 

 Though the Bacilli obviously take the nutriment which they assimulate 

 from the tissues, the bulk of each one is so excessively small in proportion 

 to that of a red corpuscle, being only at most in the proportion of 1 : 2000, 

 that their direct agency, having regard to their apparent numbers, does not 

 seem adequate to produce this effect. The relative size of the Bacillus in an- 

 thrax is widely different. I cannot but think that the appearances in the red 

 blood-corpuscles, described and figured by some writers on this subject, and 

 regarded as pathological, are merely accidental, such as may occur in the 

 preparation of normal blood from, e.g. a longer or shorter exposure to the 

 air, or other circumstances. 



^ This Journal, January, 1881. 



^ They resemble very closely m r.ppearance the Spirillum which occurs 

 in relapsing {ever, recently shown iiere by Dr. Vandyke Carter ; they are, 

 however, not permanent, nor independent organisms, as the latter ap|)ear 

 to be. 



