XI CULTIVATION OF THE BACILLUS 97 



that on account of their uniformity I was at first 

 inclined to doubt their genuineness, but I have, by- 

 repeated examination and by sub-cultures, convinced 

 myself of their being genuine fowl enteritis bacilli. 

 Some colonies, however, show many of the bacilli 

 shorter and not of such uniformity in length (Fig. 49). 

 A comparison of photographs made of impression 

 specimens of the colonies of the bacillus of fowl 

 cholera and of the bacillus of fowl enteritis shows 

 the difference in thickness and length of the two 

 species very conspicuously (Figs. 36 and 48). In 

 broth cultures of the bacillus of fowl enteritis there 

 are many bacilli which are cylindrical in shape, some 

 in chains, and some even forming filaments. 



It has been mentioned in Chapter IX. that the 

 mucus in the intestine in fowl enteritis is crowded 

 with the bacilli ; cover-glass specimens show this suffi- 

 ciently well (see Figs. 43 and 44). This fact is con- 

 firmed by cultivation. The intestine — best the caecal 

 appendages — having been opened with sterile scissors, 

 a particle of the mucus is removed with a platinum 

 loop and placed in a test-tube containing a few cubic 

 centimetres of sterilised salt solution or beef broth ; it 

 is then well shaken. From the mixture, by means of 

 the platinum loop, inoculations are made of gelatine, 

 used either for plate cultivations or the droplet is 

 rubbed over the surface of the slanting gelatine and 



H 



