60 PATHOGENIC AEROBIC BACILLI 



98. PROTEUS OF KARLINSKI. 



Synonym. Bacillus murisepticus pleomorphus (Karlinski). Probably 

 identical with Proteus vulgaris of Hauser. 



Obtained by Karlinski (1889) from a fibro-purulent uterine discharge, and 

 from abscesses in the uterus and its appendages in a puerperal woman. 



Morphology. Resembles Proteus vulgaris of Hauser in its morphology, 

 and presents various forms under different circumstances relating to the 

 culture medium, the temperature, age of culture, etc. sometimes as spheri 

 cal or short oval cells, at others as longer or shorter rods or spiral filaments ; 

 usually as bacilli with round ends two and a half times as long as thick,' 

 often united in pairs. 



Stains with the usual aniline colors, but not by Gram's method. 



Biological Characters. An aerobic and facultative anaerobic, liquefy- 

 ing, motile bacillus. Spore formation not observed. Grows rapidly in the 

 usual culture media at the room temperature. In gelatin plate cultures, at 

 the end of ten hours, small colonies are developed which have well-defined 

 outlines, are oval or whetstone-shaped, of a light-brown color by transmitted 

 light and white by reflected light, with a somewhat darker margin and a 

 smooth surface, sometimes marked by shallow clefts ; at the end of twenty 

 hours the colonies commence to have irregular margins, and the surface of 

 the gelatin above them is marked by concentric rings. At the end of thirty 

 hours the colonies have formed a bulb-shaped liquefaction of the gelatin, 

 and delicate, ray-like offshoots are seen around the margin. At the end of 

 two days the bulbous cavities are aboutone and a half millimetres in diameter 

 and contain a cloudy, grayish-white liquid ; they are surrounded by a moist- 

 looking, gray, irregular marginal zone. In gelatin stick cultures, at the end 

 of twenty -four hours, a funnel-shaped liquefaction of the gelatin occurs near 

 the surface, and a grayish-white, cloudy mass is developed along the line of 

 puncture; at the end of forty- eight hours a sac-like pouch of liquefied gela- 

 tin has formed, and in the course of four or five days the gelatin is entirely 

 liquefied. Upon agar plates the colonies are at first oval in form and white 

 by reflected light, or pale brown by transmitted light ; at the end of thirty 

 hours the surface becomes wrinkled or folded and is surrounded by radiat- 

 ing, delicately twisted offshoots. Upon the surface of agar a white layer 

 is developed. Upon potato a whitish-gray, soft, homogeneous layer, which 

 after standing along time has a darker color. Upon blood serum a thin, 

 grayish-white layer is formed and the serum is rapidly liquefied. Gelatin 

 cultures acquire a strongly alkaline reaction and give off a disagreeable 

 odor resembling that of butyric acid. 



Pathogenesis. White mice inoculated at the root of the tail die in from 

 twenty-two to twenty-four hours ; the spleen is greatly enlarged; the bacilli 

 are found in blood from the various organs less numerous in blood from 

 the heart. Field mice and house mice are less susceptible. Subcutaneous 

 injections in rabbits may give rise to local inflammation and also to general 

 infection. In white rats and guinea-pigs a local abscess may result from a 

 subcutaneous inoculation. 



99. PROTEUS MIRABILIS. 



Obtained by Hauser (1885) from putrefying animal substances. 



Morphology. Bacilli resembling very closely the preceding species (Pro- 

 teus vulgaris), but presenting more numerous involution forms, which may 

 be spherical, pear-shaped, or spermatozoa-like, etc. The bacilli are about 

 0.6 n in diameter and vary greatly in length, being sometimes nearly spheri- 

 cal, or forming rods of 2 to 3.75 /* in length, or long filaments. 



Biological Characters. An aerobic and facultative anaerobic, liquefy- 

 ing, motile bacillus. Spore formation has not been observed. Grows in the 

 usual culture media at the room temperature. Does not liquefy gelatin as 



