52 ORIENTAL PLAGUE chap. 



apology is required to enter more fully into a description 

 of these microbes. 



1. Proteus vulgaris. — First in importance of frequency 

 is the proteus vulgaris, and its varieties or races. 



Why I consider this microbe of first importance will 

 be apparent if I describe two instances. 



In a large city situate at a port on the East Coast, in 

 which port a case of plague had been landed the previous 

 year, a woman, the owner of a small shop in the town, 

 was suddenly taken ill with fever (T. 101 F.), swelling 

 and inflammation of axillary and femoral lymph glands. 

 After four days' illness the temperature fell and soon 

 became normal. While the temperature was still ab- 

 normal, a small amount of the sanguineous juice of the 

 swollen axillary gland was obtained by puncture, and sub- 

 mitted to bacterioscopic analysis. The suspicion of plague 

 was justified, first, by the fact that without any visible 

 external wound the woman suddenly showed clinically 

 symptoms resembling plague, and, secondly, that this case 

 occurred in a port in which a case of plague had occurred. 

 According to the inquiry, instituted by the medical officer 

 of health, a coloured man (sailor), himself quite well, had 

 visited the shop, but besides having shaken hands with 

 the woman, no other channel of possible infection could 

 be established. The woman recovered. 



Microscopic examination of stained film specimens 

 revealed a very small number of oval rods, some of which 

 showed more or less distinctly bipolar staining. Agar 

 plates were made, and a guinea-pig was injected sub- 

 cutaneously with the whole of the remaining material. 

 The agar plates showed next day a filmy, translucent, 

 viscid growth, which, when examined under the microscope, 



