542 BACTERIOLOGY. 



attack of cholera morbus. From the vomited material 

 and the stools he obtained a pure culture of the pro- 

 teus; but the blood, collected at the autopsy, was sterile. 

 In the meantime seventeen other persons who had eaten 

 at the same restaurant were taken sick in the same 

 way. Upon examination at the restaurant it was found 

 that the bottom of the ice-chest in which the meat was 

 kept was covered with a slimy, brown layer, which 

 gave off a disagreeable odor. Cultures from this gave 

 the proteus as the principal organism present. Injec- 

 tions into animals of the pure cultures produced similar 

 symptoms as occurred in the human subjects. Levy 

 concludes that in so-called " flesh-poisoning " bacteria 

 of this group are chiefly concerned, and that the patho- 

 genic effects are due to toxic products evolved during 

 their development. 



Booker, from his extended researches into this sub- 

 ject, concludes that the proteus plays an important part 

 in the production of the morbid symptoms which char- 

 acterize cholera infantuna. Proteus vulgaris was found 

 in the al vine discharge in a large proportion of the cases 

 examined by him, but was not found in the feces of 

 healthy infants. "The prominent symptoms in the 

 cases of cholera infantum in which the proteus bacteria 

 were found were drowsiness, stupor, emaciation, and 

 great reduction in flesh, more or less collapse, frequent 

 vomiting and purging, with watery and generally offen- 

 sive stools." 



Next to the bacillus coli communis the proteus vul- 

 garis appears to be the micro-organism most frequently 

 concerned in the etiology of pyelonephritis. In cases 

 of cystitis and of pyelonephritis this bacillus is often 

 found in pure cultures or associated with other bac- 

 teria. It probably gets into the bladder chiefly through 



