BACILLI OF THE COLON-TYPHOID-DYSENTERY GROUP . 703 



agglutination. This research is of importance in that it supported the 

 work of Kruse and of Spronck, indicating a difference between the 

 agglutinative character of the Kruse organism and the so-called " pseudo- 

 dysentery" type, in which Flexner's organisms were included. It is of 

 further interest, since it indicated a marked difference between Flexner's 

 Philippine cultures and the Philippine culture of Strong, the Strong 

 organism refusing to agglutinate not only in "Shiga" immune serum, 

 but also in "Flexner" immune serum. 



Simultaneously with this article Lentz u published the results of 

 comparative cultural researches with dysentery and " pseudo-dysen- 

 tery" bacilli, in which he made the important observation that the 

 original Shiga-Kruse bacilli did not affect mannit, while the " pseudo- 

 dysentery" bacilli, including Flexner's and Strong's Philippine cultures, 

 fermented mannit, giving rise to a distinct acid reaction in the medium. 

 The Flexner organisms and others of the " pseudo-dysentery " bacilli, 

 however, fermented maltose, while the Shiga-Kruse type, as well as 

 Strong's bacillus, left it unchanged at the end of forty-eight hours. 



In January, 1903, Hiss and Russell 12 described a bacillus ("Y") 

 from a case of fatal diarrhea in a child, which by ordinary cultural test 

 and absence of motility was found to resemble the Shiga-Kruse and 

 Flexner bacilli. Immediately upon its isolation, it was found, how- 

 ever, to differ from the Kruse culture by its ability to ferment mannit. 

 This observation was made independently of Lentz's work, which, at 

 that time, had not become known in America. In the comparative 

 study of Hiss and Russell on the fermentative abilities of various dysen- 

 tery cultures, the serum water media (described on page 157) were used. 

 By the use of these media, it was found that the Kruse culture, a culture 

 of Flexner's bacillus from the Philippines, and Duval's "New Haven" 

 culture fermented dextrose with the production of a solid acid coagu- 

 lum, but did not affect mannit, maltose, saccharose, or dextrin. The 

 culture of Hiss and Russell, on the other hand, fermented not only 

 dextrose but also mannit with the production of acid and coagulation 

 of the medium. Maltose, saccharose, and dextrin were not fermented. 

 The " Y" bacillus, furthermore, was shown to differ entirely from the cul- 

 tures of Shiga, Kruse, and "New Haven" in the serum of immunized 

 animals. This serum had for bacillus "Y" a titer of 1 : 500 while the 

 three other above-named organisms did not agglutinate in it at any 

 dilution. In normal beef serum, the Hiss-Russell organism was found 



11 Lentz, Zeit. f. Hyg., xli, 1902. 



12 Hiss and Russell. Med. News. Feb., 1903. 



