004 



PATHOGENIC SPIRILLA. 



the liquefied gelatin in the form of a coiled mass, while a thin, yeflowish 

 layer forms upon the surface ; complete liquefaction usually occurs in 

 about two weeks. Upon the surface of agar a thin, yellowish layer forms 



FIG. 184. Spirillum tyrogenum; colonies in gelatin plate; a, end of sixteen hours; 7>, end of 

 twenty-four hours ; c, end of thirty-six hours. X 80. (Fliigge.) 



along the impfstrich. Upon potato, at a temperature of 37 C., a thin, yel- 

 low layer is usually developed (not always Eisenberg) ; this contains, as a 

 rule, beautifully formed, long 1 , spiral filaments. 



Pathogenesis. Pathogenic for guinea-pigs when introduced into the 

 stomach by Koch's method ; three out of fifteen animals treated in this way 

 succumbed. 



SPIRILLUM METSCHNIKOVI. 



Synonym. Vibrio Metschnikovi (Gameleia). 



Obtained by Gamele'ia (1888) from the intestinal contents of chickens 

 dying of an infectious disease which prevails in certain parts of Russia dur- 

 ing the summer months, and which in some respects re- 

 sembles fowl cholera. The experiments of Gamele'ia show 

 that the spirillum under consideration is the cause of the 

 disease referred to, which he calls gastro-enteritischol erica. 

 Morphology. Curved rods with rounded ends, and spi- 

 ral filaments ; the curved segments are usually somewhat 

 shorter, thicker, and more decidedly curved than the 

 " comma bacillus" of Koch. The size differs very consid- 

 erably in the blood of inoculated pigeons, the diametei*- 

 being sometimes twice as great as that of the cholera spiril- 

 lum, and at others about the same. A single, long, undu- 

 lating flagellum may be seen at one extremity of the spiral 

 filaments or curved rods in properly stained preparations. 



Stains with the usual aniline colors, but not by Gram's 

 method. 



Biological Characters. An aerobic (facultative an- 

 aerobic ?), liquefying, ni(/tile spirillum. According to 

 Gamale'ia, endogenous spores are formed by this spirillum ; 

 but Pfeiffer does not confirm this observation, and it must 

 be considered extremely doubtful in view of the slight 

 resistance to heat killed in five minutes by a temperature 

 of 50 C. Grows in the usual culture media at the room 

 temperature. Upon gelatin plates small, white, puncti- 

 form colonies are developed at the end of twelve to six- 

 teen hours ; these rapidly increase in size and cause lique- 

 faction of the gelatin, which is, however, much more rapid 

 with some than with others. At the end of three days 

 large, saucer-like areas of liquefaction may be seen resem- 

 bling that produced by the Finkler-Prior spirillum and the 

 contents of which are turbid, while other colonies have 

 produced small, funnel-shaped cavities filled with transparent, liquefied gel- 

 atin and resembling colonies of the cholera spirillum of th? *snne age. Under 



FIG. 185.-Spiril- 

 lum Metschnikovi ; 

 culture in nutrient 

 gelatin, end of forty- 

 eight hours. From a 

 photograph. (Fran- 

 kel and Pfeiffer.) 



