CHAPTER XI. 

 BUBONIC PLAGUE. 



THE bacillus of bubonic plague (Fig. 121) seems to 

 have met an independent discovery at the hands of 



FIG. 121. Bacillus of bubonic plague (Yersin). 



Yersin and Kitasato in the summer of 1894, during the 

 activity of the plague then raging at Hong-Kong. There 

 seems to be but little doubt that the micro-organisms 

 described by the two observers are identical. 



In a recent study of the plague, Ogata 1 states that 

 while Kitasato found his bacillus in the blood of cadavers, 

 Yersin seldom found his bacillus in the blood, but always 

 in the enlarged lymphatic glands. Kitasato' s- bacillus 

 retains the color when stained by Gram's method; Yer- 

 sin' s does not. Kitasato' s bacillus is motile; Yersin' s, 

 non-motile. The colonies of Kitasato' s bacillus when 

 grown upon agar are round, irregular, grayish-white with 



1 Centralbl. f, Bakt. u. Parasitenk., Bd. xxi., Nos. 20 and 21, June 24, 

 1897. 



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