56 THE BACTERIA IN ASIATIC CHOLERA. [CH. 



undergo granular disintegration, so that their pale sheaths 

 alone are left. 



An interesting modification is noticeable in the 'comma- 

 bacilli in the stools and mucus-flakes taken from the ileum 

 and grown on linen, by placing mucus-flakes on a piece of 

 linen and keeping this in a capsule under a bell-glass, inside 

 of which is a piece of wet blotting-paper, at a temperature 

 of 2o-25 C. On examining microscopic preparations after 

 twenty-four, thirty-six, or forty-eight hours, the comma-bacilli 

 are found to have increased very greatly, and amongst the 



FIG. 15. PREPARATION OF A CULTIVATION OP CHOLERAIC COMMA-BACILLI 

 ON DAMP LINEN AFTER THIRTY-SIX HOURS. 



1. Typical comma-bacilli. 



2. Vacuolated comma-bacilli. 



3. Circular and oval forms produced during the process of vacuolation. 



Magnifying power about 1,400. 



typical forms single commas, Shaped and spiral forms 

 numerous examples are found which are conspicuously 

 thicker, and include smaller or larger vacuoles, singly in the 

 centre or in a row of two or more. According to the size 

 of this vacuole the comma-bacilli are no longer convex 

 concave, but plane-convex or bi-convex. If the vacuole is 

 large they appear more or less circular. There can be no 

 question about this change, since almost in every field we 

 find every intermediate form between a typical comma- 

 bacillus of the normal thickness and a circular or oval form. 



