PATHOGENIC SPIRILLA. 607 



a pellicle, but only gave a slight indol reaction. A portion of the mice in- 

 oculated subcutaiieously had after a time abscesses, from the contents of 

 which Fischer was able to cultivate his vibrio, which he named Vibrio helco- 

 genes. Vogler (1893), in an extended series of examinations of faeces, found 

 a vibrio which showed manv points of resemblance to the cholera vibrio in 

 its growth in gelatin. But it constantly gave a negative indol reaction, and 

 was not pathogenic for guinea-pigs when injected into the peritoneal cavity. 

 Bleisch obtained from the dejecta of a man who died with choleraic symptoms 

 a bacterium which upon gelatin plates grew at first like the cholera bacillus, but 

 was distinguished from it by many points of difference in other respects : 

 short rods, sometimes bent, but never showing spiral forms. It gave the 

 cholera-red reaction. Wolf (1883) obtained from cervical secretion, from a 

 woman suffering from chronic eiidometritis, a comma-formed bacillus, which 

 in its growth 011 gelatin plates resembled the cholera vibrio. The liquefac- 

 tion was, however, much more rapid, a culture a day old being as far ad- 

 vanced as a cholera culture of three to four days. The addition of sulphuric 

 acid to a bouillon culture caused a faint rose-red color, which upon standing 

 changed to brown. The addition of sulphuric acid and potassium iodide paste 

 did not cause a blue color, so there was 110 formation of nitrites. Bonhoff 

 (1893), in water from Stolpe, in Pommerania, discovered two vibrios, one of 

 which in the first twenty-four hours grevsr like the cholera vibrio, but did not 

 give the cholera-red reaction. Out of four guinea-pigs inoculated one only 

 died with cholera-like symptoms. The other vibrio gave the cholera-red reac- 

 tion, but did not liquefy gelatin and was very inconstant as regards its patho- 

 genic power. Zorkendorfer (1893) isolated a vibrio from the stools of a 

 woman who died with choleraic symptoms, which at first grew upon gelatin 

 plates like the cholera vibrio, but after the second day liquefied the gelatin 

 very rapidly, so that it could no longer be taken for the same. The indol 

 reaction was constantly absent, and it was not pathogenic for guinea-pigs, 

 rabbits, or pigeons. Blackstein (1893) obtained from the water of the Seine 

 a comma bacillus which resembled the cholera vibrio in many particulars, but 

 was distinguished by the finer granulation and more opaque appearance of 

 its colonies. Sanarelli (1893), by the use of special media, isolated from the 

 water of the Seine and of the Marne 110 less than thirty-two vibrios, four of 

 which resembled the cholera vibrio in giving the indol reaction. Three 

 others gave the indol reaction after eight days ; the remainder did not give it 

 at ail, or only very faintly. The vibrios which upon a first inoculation gave 

 110 results or only very slight evidence of pathogenic power, when carried 

 through a series of animals caused a fatal infection. When a sterilized cul- 

 ture of the colon bacillus was injected at the same time death always oc- 

 curred. Sanarelli believes that these vibrios must have had a common ori- 

 gin from the dejecta of cholera patients. Fischer (1894) has described a 

 number of vibrios from sea-water which are distinguished from the cholera 

 vibrio especially by a preference for media containing sea-water. Finally, 

 the vibrios found in water, referred to by Koch (' Ueber den augenblicklicheii 

 Stand der Cholera-diagnose,' Zeitschr. fur Hygiene, Bd. xiv., page 319), 

 belong here. 



"Quite different from these is a second group of vibrios which in their in- 

 vestigation offered great and often almost insuperable difficulties for the 

 differential diagnosis. Here, first of all, is the Vibrio Berolinensis, found by 

 Neisser in August, 1893, and described by Rubner, Neisser, and Giinther. 

 This was isolated from water which had previously contained cholera vibrios, 

 for which reason Dun bar considers it not impossible that this is a genuine 

 cholera vibrio, somewhat changed perhaps by long-continued development 

 in water. Neither in its morphology nor in its behavior in gelatin stick cul- 

 tures, in milk and other media, could it be distinguished from the genuine 

 comma bacillus ; the indol reaction and pathogenic action upon guinea-pigs 

 were the same ; on the contrary, a differentiation was easily made in gelatin 

 plate cultures. At the end of twenty -four hours it formed small, spherical, 



