ANAEROBES IN WOUNDS 521 



Bacillus (Edematiens (Weinberg) 



A large anaerobic bacillus 0-8 ^ broad by 4-10 /A long. 

 While the organisms in the wound and in young cultures 

 are Gram-positive, in older cultures a number are Gram- 

 negative. It is motile (in the wound exudate), possessing 

 several long flagella, and spores freely in all media within 

 twenty-four to forty -eight hours. The spores are large, 

 ovoid and sub -terminal or central. It grows only under 

 strict anaerobic conditions. Meat broth : gas and 

 pinkish colour which fades rapidly. Milk soon becomes 

 acid and finally clots in ten to thirty days. Gelatin is 

 liquefied but not serum. Colonies in shake agar are 

 delicate and woolly. Glucose, Isevulose and maltose are 

 fermented, but not other substances. It is pathogenic to 

 guinea-pigs, rabbits, rats and mice, a twenty-four hour 

 glucose broth culture, injected subcutaneously or into the 

 muscles, killing a guinea-pig in from six to thirty hours. 

 The muscle at the site of inoculation is hypersemic but 

 not gangrenous, contains gas bubbles, and has a putrid 

 odour. A considerable gelatinous oedema surrounds the 

 area of inoculation. B. oedematiens forms an active toxin 

 and agglutinins are formed by the injection of washed 

 bacilli. The organism occurs in the soil. 



B. fallax (Weinberg). A slender bacillus, 2-5 p, long. It is 

 motile in the wound exudate and possesses several very long 

 spirilliform flagella. Spores are oval and sub-terminal, but. are 

 infrequent. It is Gram -positive in the wound exudate and in 

 young cultures, but in older cultures tends to become Gram- 

 negative. Deep colonies are lenticular. Milk is curdled in a few 

 days, the curd being soft and mostly at the bottom. Gelatin and 

 serum are not liquefied. It ferments glucose, maltose, galactose 

 and laevulose, with the production of much gas. Much gas is 

 formed in a glucose agar stab. It is pathogenic for guinea-pigs 

 and mice, but not for rats. If inoculated into a muscle in a guinea- 

 pig, 1 c.c. of a broth culture kills in twelve to sixteen hours, and 



