412 BACILLI IN CHRONIC INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 



bacilli from human tuberculosis. Of the guinea-pigs, which were 

 inoculated in the cavity of the abdomen, eleven remained in good 

 health and one only died of general tuberculosis. These experi- 

 ments show a decided difference in the pathogenic properties of 

 tubercle bacilli from the two sources, for the guinea-pig is especially 

 susceptible to tuberculosis as a result of similar inoculations with 

 bacilli from human tuberculosis. We must therefore conclude that 

 the bacillus found in spontaneous tuberculosis in fowls is a distinct 

 variety of Bacillus tuberculosis. Whether this variety would cause 

 tuberculosis in man, if introduced into susceptible subjects, has not 

 been determined ; and, as pointed out by Koch, this question can 

 only be answered in the affirmative if it should be obtained in pure 

 cultures from cases of human tuberculosis. 



Since the above was written Maffucci has published (1892) an 

 elaborate memoir upon tuberculosis of fowls. His conclusions are 

 stated as follows : 



" The bacillus of tuberculosis in fowls is distinguished from that of tuber- 

 culosis in mammals by the following points of difference : 



**1. It does not induce tuberculosis in guinea-pigs, and seldom causes 

 general tuberculosis in rabbits. 



4 * 2. The cultures in various media have a different appearance from those 

 of the Bacillus tuberculosis of mammals. 



" 3. The temperature at which it develops varies between 35 and 45 C., 

 and the thermal death-point is 70 C. 



"4. At 45 to 50 C. the cultures show long, thick, and branched forms. 



"5. The bacillus retains its vegetative and pathogenic power at the end 

 of two years. 



" 6. This bacillus produces a substance which is toxic for guinea-pigs and 

 is but slightly toxic for grown fowls. 



" 7. The tuberculosis produced in fowls by this bacillus is without giant 

 cells." 



Additional Notes upon the Tubercle Bacillus (1895). Several 

 authors (Metschnikoff, Czaplewski, Fischel) have described branch- 

 ing forms of the tubercle bacillus, and Lubinsky (1895) reports that 

 in certain media it grows out into long threads, which, however, he 

 has never observed to be branched. The media used by him are said 

 to give a more abundant growth than occurs upon glycerin-agar ; 

 the most favorable being made of flesh-peptone agar, or flesh -peptone 

 bouillon, containing four per cent of glycerin and mashed potato, 

 one kilo of finely chopped and washed potato to fifteen hundred cubic 

 centimetres of water ; this is cooked for three or four hours and filtered 

 to the filtrate is added four per cent of glycerin ; one and a half 

 per cent of agar is now added and the mixture is again cooked and 

 filtered. 



Jones (1895) has observed the branching forms previously de- 

 scribed by several authors, and states that they are only found upon 

 the surface of culture media where there is free access of oxygen. 



