MICROSCOPICAL CHARACTERS 447 



systemic disturbance which cannot be accounted for merely by 

 the withdrawal of water and certain substances from the 

 system. Such symptoms include the profound general prostra- 

 tion, cramps in the muscles, extreme cardiac depression, the 

 cold and clammy condition of the surface, the subnormal 

 temperature, suppression of urine, etc. These, taken in their 

 entirety, are indications of a general poisoning in which the 

 circulatory and thermo - regulatory mechanisms are specially 

 involved. In some, though rare, cases known as cholera sicca, 

 general collapse occurs with remarkable suddenness, and is 

 rapidly followed by a 

 fatal result, whilst there 

 is little or no evacuation 

 from the bowel, though 

 post-mortem the intestine 

 is distended with fluid 

 contents. As the char- 

 acteristic organisms in 

 cholera are found only 

 in the intestine, the 

 general disturbances are 

 to be regarded as the 

 result of toxic substances 

 absorbed from the bowel. 

 It is also to be noted 

 that cholera is a disease 



of which the onset and Fl(J . 131. -Cholera spirilla, from a culture on 

 course are much more agar of twenty-four hours' growth, 



rapid than is the case ill Stained with weak carbol-fuchsin. xlOOO. 

 most infective diseases, 



such as typhoid and diphtheria ; and also that recovery, when 

 it takes place, does so more quickly. The two factors to be 

 correlated to these facts are : (a) a rapid multiplication of 

 organisms, (6) the production of rapidly acting toxins. 



The Cholera Spirillum. Microscopical Characters. The 

 cholera spirilla, as found in the intestines in cholera, are small 

 organisms measuring about 1 *5 to 2 /A in length, and rather less 

 than '5 in thickness. They are distinctly curved in one direction, 

 hence the api>earance of a comma (Fig. 131); most occur 

 singly, but some are attached in pairs and curved in opposite 

 directions, so that an S-shai>e results. Longer forms are rarely 

 seen in the intestine, but in cultures in fluids, as is especially 

 well seen in hanging-drop preparations, they may grow into 

 longer spiral filaments, showing a large number of turns. In 



