BACTERIUM TERMO. 387 



The bacterium termo was formerly looked on as the true Bacterium 



exciting agent of putrefaction, and it was defined in the * ermo 

 n . formerly 



following manner : looked on 



Cells short, cylindrical, oblong ; 1'5 /*. in length, '5 to 7 /i. the exciting 

 in breadth; the contents either light or dark, according to the putrefaction 

 focussing ; the membrane comparatively thick. It occurs in 

 i -regular dense masses, often arranged in rows, and forming 

 clumps, or in dense grape-like spherical zooglaea. Flagella 

 were observed in bacterium termo by Dallinger and Drysdale. 

 Its mode of movement does not differ in any important par- 

 ticular from that of any other bacteria; "the cells twist 

 around their long axis, and ( / o 



swim forwards, and then ' \N*I S '* * <4 /|l|* l| 'l 



again, without turning \ f *' f * '* //'/ |||ii// 



round, they go backwards, / / j x m/ 1 ' //!'/ 



or else move in a curved ^ % * \ x / . ' 0\"VTZ' / 

 direction through the ^ / N s ^-rjT^ 



water, as a rule not very \ ^ O * J 



quickly, with a trembling % ," / ^ 

 or oscillating motion, but cu 



sometimes making sudden Fi S- 109. Bacterium termo X 650. 

 forward movements, ?> isolated bacteria. 



. . o. group 01 bacteria, 



sometimes rotating 



around the transverse axis, and then again remaining quiet 

 for a long time, and again suddenly moving backwards and 

 forwards " (Cohn). 



J. C. Ewart has made the following statement as to the 

 mode of. development of .bacterium termo in the moist 

 chamber. The rods (their size is not stated) grew to form 

 threads shorter than those of anthrax, and without any ten- 

 dency to form a network or mycelium ; in the threads small, 

 refracting, round spores soon appear. Two or three days after 

 their formation these spores escape from the threads, and lie 

 either free in the middle of the cultivation, or form zoogltea 

 masses at its edge. After some time they sprout and form 

 ymall, narrow rods, which then multiply by transverse 

 division. The accompanying drawings, however, show that 

 Ewart was not studying the organism which Cohn had termed 

 bacterium termo, but some sort of spore-bearing bacillus. 

 In order to obtain bacterium termo, we should, according to 

 Eidam, add a small quantity of an infusion of peas, which has 

 stood for a long time, to Cohn's nutrient solution, and when 

 this is done luxuriant development of bacterium termo very 

 quickly occurs. The bacteria so cultivated, .however, never 

 caused, in Eidanr s experiments, a putrid smell ; at most a 

 cheesy odour was produced. 



The preceding description is evidently applicable to a large The term an 



imperfect one. 



