36 Comparative Studies 



During the past two years I have been engaged upon 

 a comparative study of the pseudo-diphtheria bacillus, the 

 xerosis bacillus, and the Loffler bacillus, with special ref- 

 erence to the differentiation of thesei groups of organisms. 

 My observations have been made on cultures derived from 

 various sources, as the urine in health and disease, the 

 normal conjunctiva, the nose and throat in catarrhal in- 

 flammations, the skin in impetigo, and from secretions of 

 the vagina in metritis. 



In January, 1896, a slight polyuria with symptoms of 

 mild cystitis, accompanied by a slight rise in temperature 

 in the evening, led me to undertake the bacteriological 

 study of my own urine. I at once discovered a bacillus 

 which, in its morphological characters, closely resembled 

 the diphtheria bacillus. Repeated examinations of the 

 urine disclosed the same organism persisting for some time. 

 When studied on the different culture media it was found 

 to grow on blood serum in the form of a small, round, 

 whitish colony, with no tendency to coalesce after many 

 days. On agar-agar the growth was in the form of very 

 small, pearly-white, dry, round colonies without coales- 

 cence. In gelatin stab cultures there was at times a very 

 slight growth, as shown by the whitish line along the 

 inoculation stab. Sometimes no growth could be observed 

 on gelatin. On potato only a few bacilli could be found 

 on scraping the surface after forty-eight hours and ap- 

 parently there was no growth. In bouillon there was 

 only a very slight growth, as only a few bacilli could be 

 found. There was no clouding of the bouillon. In 

 litmus-milk there was only a very slight growth. At 

 times the color of the milk was changed to a deeper blue. 

 In rosolic acid solution there was no growth. No bacilli 

 could be found. The color of the solution remained the 

 same. In peptone solution there was no growth ; no 

 bacilli could be found. There was no indol production. In 

 the course of a month the polyuria and fever gradually 



