SPIRILLUM CHOLERA ASIATICS 139 



lengm by y^Wir inch in width. It is not easy to measure 

 since spirilla are not simple curves but spirals. It does 

 not stain with great ease, but a weak watery solution 

 of fuchsin is the best. It grows best in the presence of 

 oxygen at 37.5 C. or 98 F., but may grow at ordinary 

 temperatures. It has the power of digesting gelatin 

 and solidified blood serum, but does not clot milk. It 

 resists 60 C. or 142 F. for one hour, but boiling kills 



FIG. 38. Spirillum of Asiatic cholera: /, stained by ordinary 

 method; //, stained to show flagella. (Abbott.) 



at once. It multiplies at the temperature of foodstuffs, 

 and freezing does not destroy it under three days. 

 Drying kills certainly in twenty-four hours in diffuse 

 light. Sunlight kills within one hour. The figures 

 indicate some resistance to heat and light, but against 

 chemicals this is not maintained; 1 to 1000 bichloride 

 is fatal in ten minutes; 1 per cent, carbolic acid a 

 little longer; lime in any form is rapidly fatal to the 

 spirillum. 



