160 SPECIAL BACTERIOLOGY 



MILLER'S SPIRILLUM. 



This spirillum was obtained by Miller from a carious tooth. 

 Morphologically it is indistinguishable from the spirillum of Finkler 

 and Prior. 



Motility. Non-motile. 



Staining Reactions. Same as the vibrio proteus. 



Biological Characters. On Gelatine Plates small transparent pits 

 of liquefaction appear in twenty-four hours ; in the centre of the 

 colony a minute white speck can be seen. Examined under a low 

 power, the larger colonies are granular and regularly round, and usually 

 surrounded by a peripheral zone somewhat darker than the central 

 portion of the colony. On close examination the circumference can be 

 observed fringed with short cilia-like growths usually twisted in all 

 directions. The deeper colonies are round, sharply circumscribed, of a 

 pale yellowish or greenish-yellow colour, and marked by delicate 

 irregular lines or ridges. In forty-eight hours the plate, containing 

 many colonies, is liquefied. 



In Stab Cultures the gelatine is liquefied very quickly along the 

 inoculation track. 



On Agar the growth exhibits nothing characteristic. 



On Potato, like the vibrio of cholera, at 37 C. it forms a dry white 

 patch on the surface, often only visible when the tube is held to the 

 light in a special way. 



In Bouillon it forms no pellicle. 



Solid Blood Serum and Egg Albumen are liquefied. 



Glucose is not fermented. Indol is not produced. 



Milk containing blue litmus tincture is almost completely decolorized 

 in from three to four days at 37 C., with coincident coagulation of the 

 casein and the formation of a layer of whey about it. 



Pathogenesis. Out of twenty-one animals previously treated by 

 Koch's method with soda and tincture of opium before infection, only 

 four died. 



(The other vibrios are to be found in the section on Water Bacteria.) 



SPIRILLUM OF RELAPSING FEVER. 



(Spirochaete Obermeieri). 



Found by Von Obermeier in the blood of a febris recurrens 

 patient. 



Microscopical Appearances. Long, wavy, flexible threads, with 



