SPIRILLUM OF ASIATIC CHOLERA. 381 



In some cases it can be detected in the vomited^ 

 matters, though by no means so constantly as in the 

 intestinal contents. 



As a rule, bacteriological examination fails to reveal 

 the presence of the organisms in the blood and internal 

 organs in this disease, though Nicati and Bietsch claim 

 to have obtained them from the common bile-duct in 

 rapidly fatal cases, and in two out of five cases they 

 were present in the gall-bladder. Doyen and Rasst- 

 schewsky 1 found them in the liver in pure culture, and 

 Tizzoni and Cattani 2 in both the blood and the gall- 

 bladder. 



The cholera spirillum is a facultative parasite; that 

 is to say, it apparently finds in certain portions of the 

 world, particularly in those countries in which Asiatic 

 cholera is endemic, conditions that are not entirely un- 

 favorable to its development outside of the body. This 

 has been found to be the fact not only by Koch, who 

 detected the presence of the organism in water-tanks 

 in India, but by many other observers who have suc- 

 ceeded in demonstrating its growth under conditions 

 not embraced in the ordinary methods that are em- 

 ployed for the cultivation of bacteria. 



The results of experiments having for their object 

 the determination of the length of time during which 

 this organism may retain its vitality in water are con- 

 spicuous for their irregularity. In the transactions of 

 the congress in Berlin, for the discussion of the cholera 

 question, it is stated, in connection with this point, that 

 the experiments made with tank-water in India some- 

 times resulted in demonstrating the multiplication of 



1 Reference to Vratch, 1885, in Allg. Med. Central Zeitung, Berlin. 



2 Centralblatt f. die med. Wissenschaften, 1886, No. 43. 



17* 



