FINKLER AND PRIOR'S SPIRILLUM. 



429 



When liquefaction occurs, they appear as little spheres with turbid contents, 



which rapidly increase in size ; ultimately general liquefaction occurs. On 



potatoes this organism grows well at the ordinary temperature, and in two 



or three days has formed a slimy layer 



of greyish-yellow colour, which rapidly ' \>V / 



spreads over the potato. On all the ^ 6 '// ^"* 



media the growth has a distinctly foetid ^ 05 s ' ( /^ 



odour. A growth in peptone solution /A ^^NT >y^ s /* x^' 



fails to give the cholera-red reaction J^ "">?#)$ fy C 



at the end of twenty-four hours, though jyv e\t\^ \ f \ </ v ^ 



later a faint reaction may appear. As '$ ^ *" N \T\f-JX <'=" i\ 



stated above, Koch succeeded in pro- ^ ^ .Js^-3^' f 0^T" ; 



ducing, by this organism, an intestinal ' ^^vfi^^ ^'"^'//i* 



affection in guinea-pigs after neutralis- -^-^X - ,-- 



ing the stomach contents and paralys- ^jAjL s ' 



ing the intestine with opium. This v *j,v S\ \ N "/ ' 



occurs in a small proportion of the ^ > 



animals experimented on, and the v v> l ^" 



contents of the intestine, unlike what FrG - J 45- Finkler and Prior's spirillum; 



was found in the case of the cholera from an agar culture of twenty-four hours' 



growth. 



organism, were turbid in appearance, Stained with ca rbol-fuchsin. x 1000. 

 and had a markedly foetid odour. 



When tested by intraperitoneal injection, its effects are somewhat of the same 

 nature as those of the cholera organism, but its virulence is of a much lower 

 order. 



An organism cultivated by Miller (" Miller's spirillum ") from the cavity 

 of a decayed tooth in a human subject is almost certainly the same organism 

 as Finkler and Prior's spirillum. 



Deneke's Spirillum. This organism was obtained from old cheese, and 

 is also known as the spirillum tyrogennm. It closely resembles Koch's spi- 

 rillum in microscopic appearances, though it is rather thinner and smaller. 

 Its growth in gelatin is also somewhat similar, but liquefaction proceeds more 

 rapidly, and the bell-shaped depression on the surface is larger and shallower, 

 whilst the growth has a more distinctly yellowish tint. The colonies in plates 

 also show points of resemblance, though the youngest colonies are rather 

 smoother and more regular on the surface, and liquefaction occurs more 

 rapidly than in the case of the cholera organism. The colonies have, on 

 naked-eye examination, a distinctly yellowish colour. The organism does not 

 give the cholera-red reaction, and on potato it forms a thin yellowish layer 

 when incubated above 30 C. When tested by intraperitoneal injection and 

 by other methods it is found to possess very feeble, or almost no, pathogenic 

 properties. Koch found that this organism, when administered through the 

 stomach in the same way as the cholera organism, produced a fatal result in 

 three cases out of fifteen. Deneke's spirillum is usually regarded as a com- 

 paratively harmless saprophyte. 



