378 Gaseous Edema 



body of a man dying suddenly of aortic aneurysm with a pe- 

 culiar gaseous emphysema of the subcutaneous tissues and in- 

 ternal organs, and a copious formation of gas in the blood- 

 vessels. The blood was thin and watery, of a lac color, and 

 contained many large and small gas bubbles, and many 

 bacilli, which were also obtained from it and the various 

 organs, especially in the neighborhood of the gas bubbles, 

 in nearly pure culture. The coloring-matter of the blood 

 was dissolved out of the corpuscles and stained the tissues 

 a deep red. 



Distribution. The organism is apparently of wide dis- 

 tribution. It is believed that the natural habitat of the 



Fig. 115. Bacillus aerogenes capsulatus (from photograph by Prof. 

 Simon Flexner). 



bacillus is the soil, but there is reason to think that it com- 

 monly occurs in the intestine, and may occasionally be found 

 upon the skin. 



Morphology. The bacillus is a large organism, measuring 

 3-5 p. in length, about the thickness of the anthrax bacillus, 

 with ends slightly rounded, or, when joined, square (Fig. 

 115). It occurs chiefly in pairs and in irregular groups, but 

 not in chains, in this particular differing from the anthrax 

 bacillus. In culture media it is usually straight, with slightly 

 rounded ends. In old cultures the rods may be slightly 

 bent, and involution forms occur. The bacillus varies some- 

 what in size, especially in length, in different culture-media. 



