310 IMPORTANT VARIETIES OF FISSION-FUNGI. 



water of condensation is clear or slightly turbid, with a 

 little cloudy sediment (34, vi). 



Bouillon Culture. — Homogeneous precipitate; bouil- 

 lon clear, with most delicate, floating clouds. No pellicle 

 is formed. 



Milk Culture.— See page 307. 



Potato Culture. — Rather dull, grayish- white or white, 

 moderately elevated growth, limited to the inoculation 

 streak. The border is wavy, sometimes notched. The 

 growth stands out distinctly from the potato only when 

 the latter is somewhat discolored. The appearance as of 

 ' ' silvery vesicles ' ' is also observed here, as in the agar 

 streak (35, vn). 



Conditions of Spore-formation. — At temperatures 

 above 12° there are formed in cultures which have the 

 necessary supply of oxygen, oval, highly refracting spores. 

 The higher the temperature (optimum 37°), the more 

 rapidly the sporulation occurs; at the optimum, spor illa- 

 tion may be completed in eighteen to twenty hours. 

 Gunther gives the optimum at 28°; at higher tempera- 

 tures the sporulation is not so regular. Weil obtained the 

 most resisting spores at 37°. 



Regarding the morphology of spore-formation, see page 

 26, etc. Plate 36, vi, shows the picture of fine bodies 

 (spore antecedents) at regular intervals, occurring after 

 four to eight hours at incubator temperature; Plate 36, in, 

 represents mature unstained, and Plate 36, iv, mature 

 stained spores. * 



Regarding the germination of spores, see page 27. 



Spores are never formed in the living animal nor in un- 

 opened cadavers (poverty of oxygen); on the contrary, 

 they are formed upon anthrax meat after cutting it up, in 

 bloody dejecta, etc. Weil has also observed anaerobic 



1 Chauveau and Phisalix (Comp. rend., 1895, 801) have described a 

 Forma claviformis, which sporulates like the Bact. tetani. Since we 

 are here dealing with an absolutely non-virulent form, cultivated only 

 in fluids, and not studied as to its morphologic properties upon solid 

 nutrient media, it appears to us that the possibility of a substitution 

 through a contamination is not excluded, even though previous treat- 

 ment with this organism prolongs life a little in animals after the 

 introduction of virulent anthrax. The observation deserves much 

 attention. 



