v.] VARIOUS SPECIES OF COMMA-BACILLI. 89 



more or less curved, and S' sria P e d and spiral forms had 

 been found elsewhere than in Asiatic cholera. Doubtless 

 this was not at all a welcome discovery to Koch and his 

 adherents, who had so frankly stated that notwithstanding 

 their careful and exhaustive examination, they had " never 

 seen any bacteria resembling comma-bacilli." The only 

 thing to be done was to show that the comma-bacilli of 

 Finkler and Prior were a different species from those occur- 

 ring in Asiatic cholera. 



Finkler and Prior then have proved the existence of 

 comma-bacilli in a disease other than Asiatic cholera. 



I have been fortunate enough to receive from them a 

 mounted slide and a gelatine tube of the comma-bacilli, and 

 there can be no question that while these comma-bacilli 

 are in general respects similar to the choleraic comma- 

 bacilli, they nevertheless present certain well-marked dif- 

 ferences. The characters shown by these comma-bacilli are : 

 (a) They occur as single commas, some more, others less 

 curved, as S' sna P e d forms, and as wavy or more distinctly 

 spiral forms ; (b) they are possessed of motility, exactly like 

 the choleraic comma-bacilli ; (c) they show in well-stained 

 and well-washed specimens the same distinction between 

 sheath and protoplasmic contents, generally accumulated 

 at the ends, as the choleraic comma-bacilli ; (d) they are 

 distinctly thicker and longer than the choleraic comma- 

 bacilli ; although this may not be striking when the com- 

 parison is made under a low power (say 300-400), it is 

 conspicuous when a specimen of choleraic comma-bacilli 

 made from a gelatine culture is compared under a high 

 power with one of Finkler and Prior's comma-bacilli grown 

 in a like medium ; (e) cultivated on Agar-agar mixture, in 

 broth, or vegetable albumen and Agar-agar, and on egg- 

 albumen and Agar-agar, the characters of the growth are 



