CHAPTER II. 

 TYPHOID FEVER. 



THE bacillus of typhoid fever (Fig. 105) was discovered 

 by Eberth and Koch in 1880, and was first secured in 



^***^SMB^^^^ 



FIG. 105. Bacillus typhi, from a twenty-four-hours-old agar-agar culture; 



x 650 (Heim). 



pure culture from the spleen and affected lymphatic 

 glands by Gaffky four years later. 



The organism is a small, short bacillus about 1-3 /* 

 (2-4 /* Chantemesse, Widal) in length and 0.5-0.87* broad 

 (Sternberg). The ends are rounded, and it is rather ex- 

 ceptional for the bacilli to be united in chains, though 

 this arrangement is common in potato cultures. The 

 size and morphology vary distinctly with the nature of 

 the culture-medium and the age of the culture. Thoinot 

 and Masselin in describing these morphological peculi- 

 arities mention that when grown in bouillon it is a very 

 slender bacillus ; in milk it is a large bacillus ; upon 

 a^ar-a<;ar and potato it is very thick and short ; and in 



old gelatin cultures it forms very long filaments. 

 Ml 



