THE MICKO-OKGANISMS WHICH OCCUK IN SEFTIC^MIA. 71 



sections are left in it must depend upon their thickness, the 

 depth of staining, &c. I have used solutions of from five to ten 

 per cent, of either salt, for from fifteen minutes up to two hours. 

 I have not found treatment with acetic acid successful with 

 sections of the organs any more than with the preparations of 

 blood. After this the section is washed in water, treated with 

 alcohol and oil of cloves for a few seconds, and mounted in 

 balsam. 



In preparations of the blood of a septicsemic mouse, made as 

 above described and successfully stained,- there is seen in some 

 cases a minute form of Schizophyte, a Bacillus, the greatest 

 length of the individual rods of which is about 1*6 fx ('0016 

 mm., TTTi"oT3 ^^^-) '; ^^^ breadth is somewhat too small to 

 measure directly, but does not exceed a fifth of the length, i. e. 

 about 0-3 fi (yi-7,-ij-o in-)- They are mostly single; sometimes 

 in pairs united endwise, lying amongst the red corpuscles ; they 

 are not found within the white corpuscles, nor are they, to my 

 observation, very numerous in blood from the heart. In prepa- 

 rations of the lungs of the same subjects, these Bacilli occur 

 sometimes in great numbers, both within the capillaries and in 

 the tissues on the alveolar septa. Here convoluted filaments or 

 chains composed of several individual rods or articulations are 

 found. It is therefore a true Bacillus, of a form not, I believe, 

 hitherto described. Though minute, it may be readily resolved 

 by a good |th objective. Fig. 2 in the accompanying plate 

 represents its size and form. In some of the same preparations 

 of lung there also occurs another organism, of comparatively 

 gigantic proportions^ morphologically identical to all appearance 

 with the now well-known Bacillus anthracis} or the hay Bacillus. 

 It is shown in the lower part of the same, Fig. 2. It here forms 

 long convoluted filaments, the articulations of which are of 

 considerable length and granular, showing an early stage of 

 development. Its breadth is about 1*0 [i (^xlo-o^ in.). Tliey 

 are not numerous; I have not found more than two distinct 

 filaments in the same section, and those in which they occur are 

 all from the same subject — a young mouse, previous to inocula- 

 tion apparently healthy. 



There is also found in the blood in other cases, another ultra- 

 minute form of Schizophyte. In length it does not exceed 

 1**^ V^ (iTs-o-o-o in.), in breadth 4-th, or at most ^th, of the length, 

 i. e. less than the -rnr'nTi-oth in.- It occurs singly or in pairs 

 amongst the red corpuscles, and also, sometimes thickly crowded, 



' Sometimes pronounced autliracis, but wrongly, and which wounds the 

 ear of any one brought up in the fear of the " Gradus ad Parnassum;" 

 the penultimate is distinctly short both in Latin and the original Greek. 



* In comparing micrometric measurements by different observers, varia- 



