GENUS BACILLUS 309 



BACILLUS COLI ESCHERICH. 



Synonyms. Bact. coli-commune Escherich x ; B. Neapoli- 

 tanus Emmerich 2 ; B. pyogenes-foetidus Passet. 3 



Place in nature. Bacillus coli is found in the intestine of 

 nearly all species of animals including man. It is not found 

 elsewhere in nature except in soil, water or other substances 

 contaminated with excrement. It was discovered by Emmer- 

 ich in the stools of patients suffering with Asiatic cholera. 

 Escherich later found it to be a common inhabitant of the 

 normal intestine. The bacillus has often been found associ- 

 ated with various lesions in both man and the domesticated 

 animals. Johnston 4 has recently called attention to the pos- 

 sible etiological significance of this organism to a disease of 

 the cocoanut palm. There are a number of varieties 5 of this 

 species and there are a number of species of bacteria so closely 

 related to B. coli that they have been designated as the "colon" 

 group of bacteria. These are B. coli, B. suipestifer, B. typho- 

 sus, B. icteroides, B. enteritidis, B. typhi murium, and others. 



As there are well marked differences between B. coli, B. 

 typhosus and B. suipestifer, it seems better, with our present 

 knowledge, to consider these as distinct species and include in 

 a group the species and its varieties. That is, the colon group 

 should include B. coli and its varieties ; the typhoid group, the 

 varieties of B. typhosus; the intermediate group, the varieties 

 of B. suipestifer and those species that can not be clearly dif- 

 ferentiated from it by their morphology and cultural charac- 

 ters. 



In addition to the minor differences that may exist be- 

 tween different strains of B. coli there are two well denned 

 varieties, one fermenting dextrose, lactose and saccharose with 

 the formation of gas and the other not acting on saccharose. 



1 Escherich. Darmbak. des Sauglings, Stuttgart, 1886. 



2 Emmerich. Deut. med. Wochenschrift, 1884, No. 50. 



3 Passet. Aetiol. eiterigen Phlegmon des Menschen, Berlin, 1885. 



4 Johnston. Phytopathology, Vol. I, No. 3, p. 97. 



5 Smith. The Amer. Jour, of the Medical Sciences, Sept. 1905. 

 Ford. Montreal Medical Jour., Nov. 1900. 



