SPIRILLUM OF FINKLER AND PRIOR. 591 



tion increases, and in twenty-four hours more reaches 

 the sides of the tube in the upper part of the medium ; 

 by the end of the week the gelatin is usually completely 

 liquefied. Upon the surface of the liquefied medium a 

 whitish film is seen. Upon agar there is a somewhat 

 more luxuriant growth than with the cholera vibrio; a 

 slimy, whitish-yellow layer covering the entire surface 

 is quickly developed. Upon potato this spirillum grows 

 at the room-temperature and produces a slimy, grayish- 

 yellow, glistening layer which soon extends over the 

 entire surface. The cholera spirillum does not grow at 

 room-temperature, and in the incubator produces a thin, 

 brownish layer. Cultures of the Finkler and Prior 

 spirillum give off a strong putrefactive odor; in media 

 containing sugar, according to Buchner, an acid reac- 

 tion is produced as a result of their growth; they do 

 not form indol in peptone solutions; and they have a 

 greater resistance to desiccation than the cholera spiril- 

 lum. The absence of agglutination with a dilution of 

 the serum of an animal immunized to the cholera 

 spirillum is a valuable differential sign. 



Pathogenesis. When injected into the stomach of 

 guinea-pigs, after previous injection of a soda solution 

 and opium, the Finkler and Prior spirillum is some- 

 what pathogenic for these animals; but a smaller pro- 

 portion die from such injections than from those of 

 the fresh cultures of cholera. At the autopsy the in- 

 testine is pale, and its watery contents, which contain 

 the spirilla in great numbers, have a putrefactive odor. 



This organism has been found in the dejections of 

 some healthy persons and of persons affected with diar- 

 rhoea or cholera nostras. It does not seem to have any 

 etiological relation, however, with this disease in man, 



