548 BACTERIOLOGY. 



organs only the spleen shows much damage. It is large, 

 dark in color, and contains numerous bacilli. If the 

 autopsy be made immediately after death, bacilli are 

 rarely found in the blood of the heart; but if de- 

 ferred for several hours, the organisms will be found 

 in this locality also, a fact that speaks for their multi- 

 plication in the body after death. At the moment 

 of death they are present in varying numbers in all 

 the internal viscera and on the serous surfaces of the 

 organs. 



Of all animals mice are probably the most susceptible 

 to the action of this organism, and it is not rare to find 

 it in the heart's blood, even immediately after death. 

 They die, as a result of these inoculations, in from six- 

 teen to twenty hours. 



When a pure culture is used for inoculation a rela- 

 tively large amount must be employed, and this should be 

 introduced into a deep pocket in the subcutaneous tissues 

 some distance from the surface. In continuing the in- 

 oculations from animal to animal small portions of 

 organs or a few drops of the oedema-fluid should be 

 used. The inoculation may also be successfully made 

 by introducing into a pocket in the skin bits of steril- 

 ized thread or paper upon which cultures have been 

 dried. 



The methods for obtaining the organism in pure cult- 

 ure, from the cadaver of an animal that has succumbed 

 to infection by the bacillus of malignant oedema, are 

 in all essential respects the same as those given 

 for obtaining cultures from tissues in general ; but it 

 must be remembered that the organism is a strict anae- 

 robe, and will not grow under the influence of oxygen. 

 (See methods of cultivating anaerobic species.) 



