MALIGNANT EDEMA. 



583 



bubbles in the muscles, and a transformation of the entire 

 liver into a spongy, porous mass of a gray-brown color. 

 The spleen was enlarged, soft, and contained a few gas- 

 bubbles. 



The kidneys were enlarged and had yellow stripes in 

 the cortical substance. 



No case is reported, however, 

 in which healthy men have 

 been infected with the disease. 



Cornevin declares that the 

 passage of the bacillus through 

 the white rat diminishes its vir- 

 ulence, and that the animals of 

 various species that recover from 

 this milder affection are subse- 

 quently immune to the virulent 

 organisms. 



The bacillus of malignant 

 edema stains well with ordi- 

 nary cold aqueous solutions of 

 the anilin dyes, but not by 

 Gram's method. 



The organism is not a difficult 

 one to secure in pure culture, 

 as has been said, generally con- 

 taminating tetanus cultures and 

 being much more easy to se- 

 cure by itself than its congener. 

 It is most easily obtained from 

 the edematous tissues of guinea- IG '/ 3 ' — 



• . . ° . nant edema growing in glucose 



pigs and rabbits inoculated with gelatin (Frankd and Pfeiffer). 

 garden-earth. 



The colonies which develop upon the surface of gela- 

 tin kept free of oxygen appear to the naked eye as small 

 shining bodies with liquid grayish-white contents. They 

 gradually increase in circumference, but do not change 

 their appearance. Under the microscope they appear 

 filled with a tangled mass of long filaments which under 



