496 PA THOGENIC BA CTERIA . 



typhoid bacillus in the proportion of i : 10 or i : 15. 

 Twenty-four hours afterward the cloudiness characteristic 

 of the growth of the typhoid bacillus in bouillon had 

 entirely disappeared, because the bacilli, massed together 

 in agglutins, had all sedimented, and were found as a 

 flocculent mass at the bottom of the tube. This he 

 called the "rapid method," in contradistinction to a 

 more rarely employed "slow or culture method," in 

 which the serum in the given proportion was added to 

 the sterile bouillon, which was inoculated with the 

 typhoid bacillus and then stood in an incubating oven 

 for about fifteen hours, or until the growth could be 

 observed in a flocculent mass at the bottom of the tube. 

 Pugliesi * used serum obtained from blisters. 



Both of these methods were so disturbing to the patient 

 because of the large amount of blood required, that, had 

 no improvement in the technic been devised, it is prob- 

 able that the reaction would have attained little import- 

 ance as a method of diagnosis. Widal himself made the 

 first improvement, and suggested that instead of a syringe- 

 ful of blood a few drops secured from the finger-tip would 

 suffice. He also recommended observing the reaction 

 through the microscope instead of awaiting the results 

 of the slow sedimentation that succeeds the addition of 

 the blood to a culture. Widal found that it was not nec- 

 essary to use fresh serum, but that serum kept for some 

 time produced all the phenomena in quite as typical a 

 manner. He further found that when the blood was 

 dried and subsequently redissolved, it was capable of 

 causing the reaction. 



Wyatt Johnston, entirely independent of Widal's work, 

 found that successful reactions could be secured from 

 blood dried upon paper, and immediately proceeded to 

 make practical use of his observation by requesting that 

 specimens of blood dried upon paper be sent to the labor- 

 atory at Montreal, where they would be studied and re- 

 ported upon. A ready and certain means of diagnosis of 



1 Riforma Medica, Oct., 1896. 



