THE BACILLUS OF MALIGNANT (EDEMA. 445 



quently dies in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours. 

 The most conspicuous result found at autopsy is a wide- 

 spread oedema at and about the seat of inoculation. 

 The (Edematous fluid is at places clear, while again it 

 may be marked with blood; it is usually rich in bacilli 

 (Fig. 94, a) and contains gas-bubbles. Of the internal 

 organs only the spleen shows much change. It is large, 

 dark in color, and contains numerous bacilli. If the 

 autopsy be made immediately after death, bacilli are not 

 commonly found in the blood of the heart; but if de- 

 ferred for several hours, the organisms will be found in 

 this locality also, a fact that speaks for their multiplica- 

 tion in the body after death. At the moment of death 

 they are present in all the internal viscera and on the 

 serous surfaces of the organs. 



Of all animals mice are probably the most suscepti- 

 ble to the action of this organism, and it is not rare to 

 find the organisms in the heart's blood, even immedi- 

 ately after death. They die, as a result of these inocu- 

 lations, in from sixteen to twenty hours. 



Where pure cultures are used for inoculation a rela- 

 tively large amount must be employed, and it should be 

 introduced into a deep pocket in the subcutaneous tissues 

 -ome distance from the surface. In continuing the in- 

 oculations from animal to animal small portions of 

 organs or a few drops of the oedema-fluid should be 

 used. The inoculation may also be successfully made 

 by introducing into a pocket in the skin bits of steril- 

 ized thread or paper upon which cultures have been 

 dried. 



The methods for obtaining the organism in pure cul- 

 ture, from the cadaver of an animal dead from inocula- 

 tion, are in all essential respects the same as those given 



20 



