CHAPTER III. 

 GASEOUS EDEMA. 



This very interesting micro-organism was carefully 

 described by Welch, and subsequently studied by Welch 

 and Nuttall, 1 and Welch and Flexner. 2 It is probably 

 identical with the Bacillus phlegmone emphysematose 

 of Frankel. It was first secured by Welch from the 

 body of a man dying suddenly of aneurysm with a 

 peculiar condition of gaseous emphysema of the subcu- 

 taneous tissue and internal organs, and a copious forma- 

 tion of gas in the veins and arteries. The blood was 

 thin and watery, of a lac-color, and contained large num- 

 bers of large and small gas-bubbles. The blood-altera- 

 tion was associated with a change in its coloring-matter, 

 which dissolved out of the corpuscles and stained the 

 tissues a deep red. The blood was found to contain many 

 bacilli, which were also obtained from it and the various 

 organs, especially in the neighborhood of the gas-bubbles, 

 in nearly pure culture. 



The bacillus is a large organism, measuring 3-5 // in 

 length, about the thickness of the anthrax bacillus, with 

 ends slightly rounded, or, when joined, square (Fig. 137). 

 It occurs chiefly in pairs and in irregular masses, but not 

 in chains, in this particular differing very markedly from 

 the anthrax bacillus. In culture-media the bacillus is 

 usually straight, with slightly rounded ends. In old 

 cultures the rods may be slightly bent, and involution- 

 forms occur. When several bacilli are joined together 

 the opposed ends are square-cut. The bacillus varies 

 somewhat in size, especially in length, in different cul- 

 ture-media. It usually appears thicker and more vari- 



1 Bull, of the John Hopkins Hospital, July and Aug., 1892, vol. viii., No. 24. 



2 Jour, of Exper. Med., Jan., 1896, vol. i., No. I. 



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