658 



Malignant Edema 



This organism was originally found by Pasteur* in putres- 

 cent animal infusions and called by him (1875) Vibrion 

 septique. It was later more carefully studied and described 

 by Koch, f 



Distribution. The organism is widely distributed in 

 nature, being commonly present in garden earth. It is also 

 found in dust, in waste water from houses, and some- 

 times in the intestinal canals of animals. 



Morphology. The bacillus of malignant edema is a large 

 rod-shaped organism with rounded ends, measuring 2-10 fJ. 

 by o.S-i.o//. It is actively motile, and possesses many 



Fig. 197. Bacillus of malignant edema, from the body-juice of a guinea- 

 pig inoculated with garden earth. X 1000 (Frankel and Pfeiffer). 



flagella. It produces oval endospores centrally situated 

 without alteration in the shape of the parent bacillus. 



Staining. The bacillus stains well with ordinary cold 

 aqueous solutions of the anilin dyes, but not by Gram's 

 method. 



Cultivation. The organism grows well both at the room 

 temperature and at that of the incubator. It is not dim- 

 cult to secure in pure culture, being most easily obtained 

 from the edematous tissues of guinea-pigs and rabbits in- 

 oculated with garden earth. 



*"Bull. Acad. Med.," 1877 and 1881. 



t " Mittheilungen aus dem kaiserl. Gesundheitsamte," I, 53. 



