460 The Finkler and Prior Spirillum 



Pawlowsky and others have found the dog susceptible to 

 cholera, and have utilized it in the preparation of an anti- 

 toxic serum. The dogs were first immunized against 

 attenuated cultures, then against more and more virulent 

 cultures, until a serum was obtained whose value was 

 estimated at i : i3o ; ooo upon experimental animals. 



Freymuth * and others have endeavored to secure favor- 

 able results from the injection of blood-serum from con- 

 valescent patients into the diseased. One recovery out 

 of three cases treated is recorded. 



In all these preliminaries the foreshadowing of a future 

 therapeusis must be evident, but as yet nothing satis- 

 factory has been achieved. 



One of the chief errors made in the experimental prepara- 

 tion of anticholera serums is that efforts have been directed 

 toward endowing the blood with the power of resisting 

 and destroying the bacteria that rarely, if ever, reach it. 

 The two essentials to be aimed at are an antitoxin to neu- 

 tralize the depressing effects of the toxalbumin, and some 

 means of destroying the bacteria in the intestine. 



The cholera spirillum is one of a considerable-sized group 

 of closely related organisms, from some of which it is dif- 

 ferentiated with difficulty. 



SPIRILLA RESEMBLING THE CHOLERA SPIRILLUM. 

 FINKLER AND PRIOR SPIRILLUM (VIBRIO PROTEUS). 



Similar in morphology to the spirillum of cholera, and in 

 other respects closely related to it, is the spirillum obtained 

 from the feces of a case of cholera nostras by Finkler and 

 Priorf in 1884. 



Morphology. It is shorter and stouter, with a more 

 pronounced curve than the cholera spirillum, and rarely 

 forms long spirals. The central portion is also somewhat 

 thinner than the ends, which are a little pointed and give 

 the organism a less uniform appearance (Fig. 134). In- 

 volution forms are common in cultures, and appear as 

 spheres, spindles, clubs, etc. Like the cholera spirillum, 



* "Deutsche med. Wochenschrift," 1893, No. 43. 

 t " Centralbl. fur allg. Gesundheitspflege," Bd. i, Bonn, 1885; 

 " Deutsche med. Wochenschrift," 1884, p. 632. 



