CHAPTER XXXI Y. 



SPIRILLA RESEMBLING THAT OF CHOLERA THE 

 SPIRILLUM OF RELAPSING FEVER. 



SPIRILLUM OF FINKLER AND PRIOR. 



FINKLER and Prior, in 1884, obtained from the feces 

 of patients with cholera nostras, after allowing the 

 dejecta to stand for some days, a sprillum which is 

 of interest mainly because it simulates the comma 

 bacillus of Koch, but differs from it in several cultural 

 peculiarities. 



Morphology. More or less curved rods with an aver- 

 age length of 2.4/z and a breadth of 0.4 to 0.6//, some- 

 what longer and thicker than the spirillum of Asiatic 

 cholera and not so uniform in diameter, the central por- 

 tion being usually wider than the pointed ends; forms 

 sometimes S-shaped and spiral filaments, which are not 

 as numerous, and are usually shorter than those formed 

 by the cholera spirillum. Examined in the hanging 

 drop they are seen to be actively motile. A single 

 flagellum is attached to one end of the curved segments. 

 In unfavorable media involution forms are common. 



Stains with the usual aniline colors. 



Biological Characters. An aerobic and facultative 

 anaerobic, liquefying spirillum. Does not form spores. 

 Upon gelatin plates small, white, punctiforrn colonies 

 are developed at the end of twenty-four hours, which 



