MICROSPIRA COMMA. 469 



reaction of the gastric juice, this reaction was first to be 

 neutralized by injecting through a soft catheter passed 

 down the oesophagus into the stomach 5 c.c. of a 5 per 

 cent, solution of sodium carbonate. Ten or fifteen min- 

 utes later this was to be followed by the injection into 

 the stomach (also through a soft catheter) of 10 c.c. of a 

 bouillon culture of microspira comma. For the pur- 

 pose of arresting peristalsis and permitting the bac- 

 teria to remain in the stomach and upper part of the 

 duodenum for as long a time as possible, the animal was 

 to receive, immediately following the injection of the 

 culture, an intraperitoneal injection, by means of a 

 hypodermic syringe, of 1 c.c. of tincture of opium for 

 each 200 grammes of its body-weight. Shortly after 

 this last injection deep narcosis sets in and lasts from 

 a half to one hour, after which the animal is as lively 

 as ever. Of 35 guinea-pigs inoculated in this way by 

 Koch, 30 died of an affection that was, in general, very 

 similar to Asiatic cholera as seen in man. 



The condition of those animals before death is de- 

 scribed as follows : twenty-four hours after the opera- 

 tion the animal appears unwell ; there is loss of appetite, 

 and the animal remains quiet in its cage. On the fol- 

 lowing day a paralytic condition of the hind extremities 

 appears, which, as the day wears on, becomes more 

 pronounced ; the animal lies quite flat upon its abdomen 

 or on its side, with legs extended ; respiration is weak 

 and prolonged, and the pulsations of the heart are hardly 

 perceptible ; the head and extremities are cold, and the 

 body-temperature is frequently subnormal. The ani- 



