346 BACTERIOLOGY. 



ters, though by no means so constantly as in the intes- 

 tinal contents. 



As a rule, bacteriological examination fails to reveal 

 the presence of the organisms in the blood and internal 

 organs in this disease, though Nicati and Rietsch claim 

 to have obtained them from the common bile-duct in 

 rapidly fatal cases, and in two out of five cases they 

 were present in the gall-bladder. Doyen and Rasst- 

 schewsky 1 found them in the liver in pure culture, 

 and Tizzoni and Cattani 2 in both the blood and the gall- 

 bladder. 



The cholera spirillum is a facultative parasite ; that 

 is to say, it apparently finds in certain portions of the 

 world, particularly in those countries in which Asiatic 

 cholera is endemic, conditions that are not entirely un- 

 favorable to its development outside of the body. This 

 has been found to be the fact not only by Koch, who 

 detected the presence of the organism in the water-tanks 

 in India, but by many other observers who have suc- 

 ceeded in demonstrating its growth under conditions not 

 embraced in the ordinary methods that are employed 

 for the cultivation of bacteria. 



The results of experiments having for their object 

 the determination of the length of time during which 

 this organism may retain its vitality in water are con- 

 spicuous for their irregularity. In the transactions of 

 the congress in Berlin, for the discussion of the cholera 

 question, it is stated, in connection with this point, that 

 the experiments made with tank- water in India some- 

 times resulted in demonstrating the multiplication of 



1 Reference to Vratch, 1885, in Allg. Med. Central. Zeitung, Berlin. 



2 Centralblatt f. die med. Wissenschaften, 1886, No. 43. 



