BACILLUS PSEUDO-CEDEMA 571 



Discrete colonies are round with irregular margins, and are slightly granular : 

 the medium is split by bubbles of gas and liquefaction then occurs. 



Agar. According to Jungano and Distaso, isolated colonies on agar are 

 characteristic : they are small, lenticular or heart-shaped, with regular sharp- 

 cut edges, and under the microscope are somewhat granular. Numerous 

 bubbles of gas are rapidly formed. 



Milk. Coagulation takes place in 24 hours and is accompanied by a smell 

 of butyric acid. 



White of egg. White of egg is attacked very slowly and a black pigment 

 is formed at the bottom of the tube. 



4. Toxin. 



Cultures sterilized by filtration or by chloroform have no action on guinea- 

 pigs or rabbits (Jungano). 



Korentchevsky obtained a toxin from a bacillus isolated from a dog the 

 virulence of which had been increased by passage through three rabbits. This 

 toxin was fatal to rabbits in quantities of 1 c.c. per kilogram of body weight. 



GHON AND SACHS 5 BACILLUS. 



Ghon and Sachs found a bacillus resembling the Bacillus perfringens in the liver 

 of a person affected with gaseous gangrene. This bacillus, however, was more 

 slender than the B. perfringens and was sometimes motile and curved : the spore 

 was situated in the middle and took Gram's stain when young. The organism is 

 very slightly pathogenic for laboratory animals (mice, guinea-pigs and rabbits), 

 in which it produces a temporary swelling. 



II. BACILLUS PSEUDO-CEDEMA. 



The Bacillus pseudo-oedema was first isolated by Liborius from garden 

 soil and afterwards by Sanfelice from soil and the excreta of animals. The 

 Proteus hominis capsulatus obtained by Bordoni Uffreduzzi from a case of 

 human septicaemia is apparently the same organism. 



Experimental inoculation. The B. pseudo-osdema is pathogenic for rabbits, 

 guinea-pigs and mice ; if a considerable quantity of culture be inoculated 

 the animals suffer from lesions similar to those of malignant oedema. 



Morphology. The bacillus is stouter than the bacillus of malignant oedema 

 and sometimes forms filaments. It has a very distinct capsule, and generally 

 shows two oval terminal spores. It stains easily with the aniline dyes and 

 irregularly with Gram's stain. 



Cultural characteristics. The Bacillus pseudo-oedema is a strict anaerobe 

 and grows abundantly on the ordinary culture media producing a considerable 

 quantity of gas and giving off a fetid odour. It. liquefies gelatin. 



III. BACILLUS RAMOSUS. 



This bacillus was found by Veillon and Zuber in a number of instances in 

 pus from gangrenous inflammations (otitis, appendicitis, etc.), and by Monnier 

 in dental caries. It is a normal inhabitant of the intestine. The bacillus 

 described by Lotti in a case of appendicitis, Grigoroff's " A " bacillus (appendi- 

 citis), and the Bacillus posciloides of Roger and Gamier are, according to 

 Jungano and Distaso, the same organism. 



Experimental inoculation. The Bacillus ramosus is pathogenic for rabbits, 

 guinea-pigs and mice ; these animals die in 6-8 days after being inoculated 

 sub-cutaneously with cultures. 



