I io THE BACTERIA IN ASIATIC CHOLERA. [CH. 



iodate of calcium. A noteworthy result of these experi- 

 ments (published in the Report of the Medical Officer of the 

 Local Government Board for 1885) was this that while the 

 killing and restraining power of corrosive sublimate on the 

 choleraic comma-bacilli, which by the way is greatly inferior 1 

 to what was found by Koch, is very much the same as on 

 Finkler's comma-bacilli, and some notoriously saprophytic 

 bacteria, it is not so great on them as on some notoriously 

 pathogenic bacteria (exclusive of spore-bearing forms). 



Strong solutions of iodate of calcium, while possessed of 

 antiseptic action on micrococci, as well as on pathogenic 

 sporeless bacilli, have no effect on the choleraic comma- 

 bacilli ; when kept mixed with the solution the comma-bacilli 

 retain their motility and their power of multiplying unimpaired. 

 Sea-water has likewise no disinfecting action on them. 



With regard to the aspect and character of the colonies in 

 gelatine plate cultivations, although they are well-marked in 

 the case of choleraic comma-bacilli (see p. 71), they are not 

 exclusively confined to them ; I have seen colonies of 

 micrococci (obtained accidentally from necrotic tissue, and 

 from urine) which very much resembled them in general 

 aspect, and in the mode of liquefaction of the gelatine, but 

 they grew more rapidly. 



Finally as to the character of the growth in gelatine tubes, 

 particularly the funnel-shaped depression of the surface and 

 the occluding air-bubble, I have observed these in the case 

 of some other bacteria, as has been already stated. But the 

 general appearances as growth proceeded became somewhat 

 different from those presented by the choleraic comma-bacilli. 



Dr. Odo Bujwid pointed out 2 that the cultures of choleraic 



1 Koch gives the restraining power of perchloride of mercury on 

 choleraic comma-bacilli as measured by I in 100,000 of water ; I find 

 that not even I in 30,000 has such a power. 



2 Zeitschrift fur Hygiene, Bd. II. I, p. 52. 



