CHAPTER VIII. 



TYPHUS MURIUM. 



Bacillus Typhi Murium (Loffler 1 ). 



The Bacillus typhi murium (Fig. 121), which created 

 havoc among the mice in his laboratory, causing most 

 of them to die, was discovered by Loffler in 1889. It 

 is a short organism, somewhat resembling the bacillus 

 of chicken-cholera. It is rather variable in its dimen- 

 sions, and often grows into long, flexible filaments. No 



Fig. 121. — Bacillus typhi murium, from agar-agar; x iooo (Itzerott and 



Niemann). 



sporulatiou has been observed. It is a motile organism, 

 with numerous flagella, like those of the typhoid-fever 

 bacillus. It stains well with the ordinary dyes, but 

 rather better with Loffler' s alkaline methylene blue. 



Upon gelatin plates the deep colonies are at first round, 

 slightly granular, transparent, and grayish. Later they 

 become yellowish-brown and granular. Superficial col- 

 onies are similar to those of the typhoid bacillus. In 



1 Centralbl.f. Bake. u. Parasitenk., xi., p. 129. 



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