CHAPTER LXIV 



THE MICROBE OF MALIGNANT (EDEMA 



THIS is a rare disease. But, in considering any- 

 thing like a complete list of diseases caused by mi- 

 crobes, it must be mentioned. It is popularly 

 called " poisonous dropsy." The microbe that 

 causes it is represented in Fig. 101-b. It belongs to 

 the Eod-shaped type. It is about the one-twenty- 

 five thousandth part of an inch in its shorter 

 diameter three or four times this in its longer 

 diameter. 



This germ propagates by the production of 

 spores. The spores are formed in about the center 

 of the rod. The minute rods begin to enlarge at 

 the central point, and, when the spores, forming 

 within, become mature, the membrane breaks, and 

 the spores go free. 



This microbe lives free in Nature in garden 

 and field soil and different kinds of manure. 



Infection takes place by means of some wound 

 on the body slight scratch of the skin, or more 

 serious wound. The sharp instrument by which 

 the wound is made may contain the germ, and pro- 

 duce infection by leaving the germ in the wound. 

 Or, after the wound is made, contaminated soil 

 may come in contact with it, and thus produce in- 

 fection. 



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