434 



PATHOGENIC BACTERIA. 



a bluish tint, and resemble glass-wool when slightly 

 magnified; Yersin's bacillus forms white, transparent col- 

 onies with iridescent edges. Ogata, in the investigation 



FIG. 122. Bacilli of plague and phagocytes; x 800. From human lymphatic 

 gland (Aoyama). 



of the cases that came into his hands found a bacillus 

 that resembles that of Yersin, but not that of Kitasato. 



The bubonic plague is an extremely fatal infectious 

 disease, whose ravages in the hospital in which Yersin 

 made his observations carried off 95 per cent, of the 

 cases. It affects both men and animals, and is character- 

 ized by sudden onset, high fever, prostration, delirium, 

 and the occurrence of lymphatic swellings buboes 

 affecting chiefly the inguinal glands, though not infre- 

 quently the axillary, and sometimes the cervical, glands. 

 Death comes on in severe cases in forty-eight hours. If 

 the case is of longer duration, the prognosis is said to be 

 better. Autopsy in fatal cases reveals the characteristic 

 enlargement of the lymphatic glands, whose contents are 

 soft and sometimes purulent. 



Wyssokowitz and Zabolotmy 1 describe two forms of 

 the disease: 



1 Ann. de rinst. Pasteur, Aug. 25, 1897, xi., 8, p. 665. 



