460 BACILLI WHICH PRODUCE SEPTICAEMIA. 



is viscid, drawing out into threads. In the absence of oxygen the characters 

 of growth are the same as in its presence. The cultures acquire an alkaline 

 reaction ; they are sterilized by exposure for ten minutes to a temperature of 

 60 C. Does not grow upon potato. 



Pathogenesis. Pathogenic for chickens and turkeys. Not pathogenic for 

 pigeons, guinea-pigs, or rabbits when injected subcutaneously or into the 

 peritoneal cavity, but kills rabbits when injected into a vein. In the in- 

 fected fowls the bacilli are found in small numbers in the blood, more nu- 

 merous in the kidneys and liver, still more numerous in the spleen, and in 

 enormous numbers in the intestinal mucus, where in acute cases it is found 

 almost in a pure culture. Fowls do not contract the disease as a result of 

 the ingestion of grains soiled with cultures of the bacillus, but become in- 

 fected when fed with animal food to which a pure culture has been added. 



88. CAPSULE BACILLUS OF LOEB. 



Obtained from a case of keratomalacia infantum by inoculating culture 

 media with a little of the softened exudate in the cornea. 



Morphology. Resembles Bacillus capsulatus of Pfeiffer, but this is said 

 to be somewhat larger and thicker. In the blood of mice, however, both 

 bacilli vary considerably in size, and according to Loeb it was not possible 

 to determine with certainty that one bacillus was, on the average, larger 

 than the other. 



In staining reactions, also, no difference was observed both bacilli stain 

 with the usual aniline colors, and under certain circumstances the centre of 

 the rods is less deeply stained than the extremities. 



Biological Characters. An aerobic and facultative anaerobic, non-lique- 

 fying, non-motile bacillus. Grows in the usual culture media at the room 

 temperature. In its growth in culture media it closely resembles Bacillus 

 capsulatus of Pfeiffer (No. 80). 



Pathogenesis. Pathogenic for mice and for guinea-pigs, but not for rab- 

 bits and pigeons ; Pf eiffer's bacillus is pathogenic for these animals. 



