410 BACTERIOLOGY. 



of temperature. A hypersemia of the entire gastro- 

 intestinal tract is seen at autopsy. The other internal 

 organs do not, as a rule, present anything abnormal to 

 the naked eye. The intestinal canal contains yellowish 

 fluid with which blood may be mixed . In adult chickens 

 the spirilla are not found in the blood, but in young 

 ones they are usually present in small numbers. By 

 subcutaneous inoculation pigeons succumb to the path- 

 ogenic activities of this organism in from eight to 

 twelve hours. At autopsy pretty much the same con- 

 dition is seen as was described for chickens, except that 

 large numbers of the spirilla are usually present in the 

 blood. Guinea-pigs usually die in from twenty to 

 twenty-four hours after subcutaneous inoculation. At 

 autopsy an extensive oedema of the subcutaneous tissues 

 about the seat of inoculation is seen, and there is usually 

 a necrotic condition of the tissues in the vicinity of the 

 point of puncture. As the blood and internal organs 

 contain the vibrios in large numbers, the infection in 

 these animals takes, therefore, the form of acute, gen- 

 eral septicaemia. 



Gastro-enteritis may be produced in both chickens 

 and guinea-pigs by feeding them with food in which 

 cultures of this organism have been mixed. 



In the autumn of 1896 the author isolated from the 

 Schuylkill River at Philadelphia a spirillum that is 

 pathogenic for pigeous and for guinea-pigs, and that 

 possesses so many of the other characteristics com- 

 mon to the group of spirilla of which the cholera 

 spirillum forms the most important member, as to 

 justify the opinion that they are members of the same 

 family. That it is not identical with the cholera 



