CHAPTEE XXII. 



The spirillum (comma bacillus) of Asiatic cholera Its morphological and 

 cultural peculiarities Pathogenic properties The bacteriological diagnosis 

 of Asiatic cholera. 



AT the conference held in Berlin in 1884 for the 

 purpose of discussing the cholera question, it was 

 announced by Koch 1 that he had discovered in the 

 intestinal evacuations of individuals suffering from 

 Asiatic cholera a micro-organism that he believed to 

 be the cause of the malady. The importance of this 

 statement necessarily attracted widespread attention to 

 the subject, and as one of the results there existed, for 

 a short time following, some skepticism as to the accu- 

 racy of Koch's claim. These doubts arose as a result 

 of a series of contributions from other observers who 

 endeavored to prove that the organism found by Koch 

 in cholera evacuations was one that is common to other 

 localities, and not a specific accompaniment of this dis- 

 ease. It was not very long, however, before it was 

 evident that the objections raised by the opponents of 

 Koch were based upon untrustworthy observations, and 

 that by reliable methods of investigation the organism 

 to which he had called attention could be easily differ- 

 entiated from either and all of those with which it was 

 claimed to be identical. 



1 Verhandlungen der Conferenz zur Erorterung der Cholerafrage, 1884. 

 Berlin. 



