346 BACILLUS PATHOGENIC IN ANIMALS. 



gelatine. In puncture cultivations the same growth 

 appears at the surface, but along the track of the needle 

 white irregular clumps are formed, from which fairly 

 coarse branches radiate, often thickened and club-shaped 

 at the end, and varying much in direction and length. 

 In the older cultivations the fine branches disappear, so 

 that the connection between the primary and secondary 

 centres is apparently lost; ultimately, the gelatine 

 becomes gradually liquefied all around the colony. 



On nutrient agar the bacilli form a whitish layer, on 

 potatoes they grow slowly in the form of a yellowish 

 deposit. They cause coagulation of milk in a few days ; 

 later on this coagulum becomes gradually liquefied, 

 while a very small amount of acid is formed. The 

 various cultivations have a peculiar smell, like old but 

 not yet ammoniacal urine. 



Experiments Cheshire was able to demonstrate that foul brood 

 could be set up by the introduction of a pure cultivation 

 of these bacilli into healthy combs ; adult bees could 

 also be infected by feeding them with pure cultivations. 

 Flies also seem to be susceptible ; mice and rabbits show 

 no marked symptoms after subcutaneous inoculation of 

 small quantities ; but the experiments as to the action 

 of larger doses have not yet been concluded. 



Bacilli of jequirity ophthalmia. 



Therapeutic D e Wecker recommended, in 1882, the employment 

 of jeqnirity of an infusion of jequirity seeds (obtained from Abrus 

 precatorius, a shrub which occurs in Southern Asia and 

 in Africa, and which has been transplanted to America, 

 and belongs to the family of the leguininosa) in order to 

 set up inflammation and suppuration of the conjunctiva 

 in cases of granulations and pannus, these troubles being, 

 as we know, frequently cured by these means. The 

 views of practitioners are at present divided as to the the- 

 rapeutic value of this substance ; it has chiefly attracted 

 attention from the fact that some observers have referred 

 the action of jequirity to specific bacilli. 



The infusion employed is very dilute (J to 1 per 



