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Bacillus septicaemiae anserum exsudativae (Riemer— Frosch 

 & Bierbaum— Loffler). Although Frosch & Bierbaum could 

 only grow their organism on haemoglobin-containing media 

 for the first two months, yet they look upon it as identical 

 with Riemer's; similar Loffler regards the bacilli he found 

 as identical with Riemer's and Frosch & Bierbaum's. 



The phenomenon that an organism which at first is hae- 

 moglobinophilie later on loses this character was also observed 

 in the bacilli which Wolff and Marx cultivated from a rat 

 and a tiger respectively. Wolff's bacillus continued to be hae- 

 moglobinophilic for the first 3 months, but 2 months later 

 it could be cultivated on ordinary agar. Marx's bacillus was 

 only haemoglobinophilic for the first 3 generations. Both bac- 

 teria had a rather slimy and tough or stick}' consistence, and 

 Wolfi's bacillus formed colonies on blood agar up to „fast 

 Erbsengrosse". According to Wolff's account it differed from 

 Pfeiffer's bacillus immediately after isolation in pure culture 

 by its being able to grow on broth in a generation. 



As already mentioned the authors who investigated on a 

 large scale whether Pfeiffer's bacillus preserves its dependence 

 on haemoglobin after cultivation for a long time (several 

 months), found that this was the case. Bacteria which in the 

 beginning are haemoglobinophilic but after the lapse of a few 

 months arc able to grow on ordinary media should therefore 

 not be regarded as Pfeiffer's bacilli. Fortunately it appears 

 from the above that even during the time that they are hae- 

 moglobinophilic it will be possible in the case of such or- 

 ganisms to demonstrate how they deviate from Pfeiffer's ba- 

 cillus, so that it will be unnecessary in diagnosing the latter 

 to insist on the proof that it is still haemoglobinophilic after, 

 say, a years cultivation! 



Ritchie's contribution only, may perhaps create a little more 

 serious apprehension on this point. He found that the haemo- 

 globinophilic bacteria that he isolated from meningitis cases grew 

 feebly on haemoglobin-free agar after a long period of cultivation. 

 Whether it was a question of bacilli which were less haemoglo- 

 binophilic than the ordinary Pfeiffer's bacillus or whether it was 

 a peculiarity in his haemoglobin-free medium, cannot be decided. 

 It is not a general rule that the haemoglobinophilic bacteria from 

 meningitis cases can be weaned from haemoglobin. I inoculated 



