CH. ix] OF TRANSMUTATION 125 



(5) In none of these four experiments was any attempt 

 made to test the new strain by subculture or passage to 

 ascertain whether it would revert. In two experiments the 

 original strain of B. typhosus had, within a few hours of its 

 injection, completely disappeared and in none of the experi- 

 ments were any intermediate forms observed which might be 

 regarded as linking up the new strain with the original one 

 and suggesting a transmutation. All the organisms were 

 apparently of the same type. Moreover the agglutination 

 reactions betrayed no sign, in the only instance in which they 

 were tested, of any connection between the new strain and 

 the original B. typhosus. The continuity, therefore, of the 

 two forms cannot be regarded as proved. Moreover if the 

 variants were really derived from the original strain of 

 B. typhosus one would have expected them to be present, like 

 the typhoid bacilli, in the blood stream as well as in the 

 peritoneal cavity. One possible explanation is that the change 

 was dependent upon the influence of some agent existing in 

 the peritoneum but absent elsewhere. This will be referred 

 to again (vide p. 126). 



(6) A repetition of the experiments was made in only two 

 cases (e\ and ciii) and without yielding similar results 

 indeed the results differed from those first obtained in such a 

 way as to suggest that the original cultures, in both cases, 

 contained strains of bacteria differing widely, at any rate in 

 their virulence. 



(7) If the continuity of the two different strains were 

 established in each case, what would be the significance of 

 these changes ? The transition from B. typhosus to an atypical 

 coliform organism may be regarded as a variation on the part 

 of the typhoid strain, probably temporary in character and 

 of the same nature as those discussed in an earlier part of 

 this work (vide p. 11). The transition from B. typhosus to a 

 Gram-positive coccus is more difficult to explain but the 

 observations of Adami and others would suggest that, in this 

 case also, a temporary variation and not a true transmutation 

 might have been brought about. Adami (1892) observed that 

 the addition to a medium of substances inimical to the life 



