308 MANUAL OF BACTERIOLOGY. 



motile, though flagella have been described. It is stained by 

 ordinary aniline dyes, but not by Gram's method. It grows 

 slowly, even in the incubator, and more slowly at ordinary 

 temperatures. In gelatin the growth is feeble; there is no 

 liquefaction. On agar pearly white growths appear after 

 three or four days. Bouillon becomes turbid, and later a 

 sediment is formed. On potato there may be slight invisible 

 growth. 



A commission sent by the Royal Society of England * came to the conclusion 

 that Malta fever is spread through goats' milk. The report of this, as it ap- 

 pears in the Journal quoted, does not seem convincing. 



Malta fever occurs chiefly about the Mediterranean. It 

 has been observed in India, in the Philippine Islands and in 

 Porto Rico. 



It is a chronic febrile disease, but not very fatal, accompanied 

 by pains in the joints and perspiration. At autopsies the 

 organisms may best be recovered from the enlarged spleen.. 

 Accidental infection, sometimes fatal in man, has occurred 

 from pure cultures on a number of occasions. The disease 

 may be reproduced in monkeys by inoculation with pure cul- 

 tures. The agglutination reaction is positive in this disease. 

 The diagnosis is best made by applying this test to the blood- 

 serum of the patient, with a known pure culture of Micrococcus 

 melitensis.t For this purpose a suspension of an agar culture 

 is made in normal salt solution. The diluted serum is added 

 so as to secure a dilution of about 1-50, but the dilutions used 

 have varied widely. Precipitation quickly follows agglutina- 

 tion. According to Craig, the test may be made on a slide, 

 examining with the microscope as for the typhoid bacillus (see 

 Serum- test for Typhoid Fever). 



* London letter to Journ. Am. Med. Assn. June i, 1907. 



fMusser and Sailer. Philadelphia Medical Journal. December 31, 1898, 

 July 8, 1899. Strong and Musgrove. Ibid. November 24, 1900. Curry. 

 Journal Medical Research. Vol. VI. 1901. 



