BACTERIUM XEROSIS 499 



in less than twenty-four hours with marked inflammatory 

 reaction affecting the peritoneum as well as the abdominal 

 organs. 



The morphologic and biologic characters of some members 

 of the group of bacterium pseudodiphtheriticum are sug- 

 gestive of those of bacterium diphtherise. Other members 

 of the group, however, are readily differentiated from bac- 

 terium diphtherias by either the morphologic or the biologic 

 characters, or by both. Many of the members of the group 

 produce very little acid when grown in carbohydrate media, 

 and the slight degree of acidity produced is frequently 

 obliterated by a marked degree of subsequent alkali 

 production. This fact is of special value in the differentia- 

 tion from bacterium diphtherise. 



BACTERIUM XEROSIS (NEISSER AND KUSCHBERT), 

 MIGULA, 1900. 



SYNONYM: Bacillus xerosis, Neisser and Kuschbert, 1883. 



Another organism which is also related in its morphologic 

 and biologic characters to bacterium diphtherise is bacterium 

 xerosis, first encountered by Kuschbert and Neisser in xerosis 

 of the conjunctiva, and which has since been found on the 

 conjunctiva by a number of investigators, in various diseases 

 as well as in health. 



The xerosis bacteria are less likely to be mistaken for 

 bacterium diphtherias because they are somewhat smaller 

 and have less tendency to show multiple striations. Usually 

 they stain deeply at the poles with only one clear unstained 

 band in the center. It is only occasionally that a few striated 

 organisms are encountered in a culture. 



