2C Objects Seen in Cholera Evacuations. [part i, 



course of an hour or two. Sometimes, however, the change is not so rapid, depending on 

 the chemical nature of the fluid, especially on the extent of its alkalinity — cholera stools 

 being most invariably alkaline. The method adopted in these examinations is to pour 

 the discharge into a conical vessel, set it aside for a short time, and, when the sediment 

 is seen to have been deposited, a pipette is introduced in order to transfer a portion of 

 it to the slide. Frequently the sediment is seen to be of a very slimy nature, requiring 

 some tact in bringing it into the pipette. 



Illustration I. : — 



The evacuation was from a man suffering for eight hours from a severe form of cholera, 

 who died on the second day. It was of a pale straw colour, with a muco-flocculent deposit. 

 In the upper liquid portion nothing special was visible, but on examination of the 

 sediment, it was found to consist of flakes of a gelatinous semi-fibrous texture, studded 

 with globules, circular and oval, with a pale yellow tint, and of a homogeneous nature, 

 a very correct representation of which is given in Plate XII [, Fig. xl. In some of these 

 bodies a clear space is observed, but nothing further could be made of their nature. 



Iodine stained some of a brownish-red, and others of a deep yellow. 



Liquor potassct seemed to make the corpuscles more distinct at first, and to isolate 

 the contained granules and molecules, giving the contents a distinctly dotted appearance. 

 The fibrillated substance became slightly granular, then it gradually faded, and so did 

 the corpuscles, which in the course of half an hour entirely disappeared, except here 

 and there a little cluster of molecules, five or six, with a clear space in the centre, all 

 trace of the fibrillated texture having disappeared. 



Acetic acid increases the stringy appearance at first, making each little fibril appear 

 dotted like a very fine bead of granules, or minute molecules ; eventually the fibrillated 

 appearance is obliterated altogether, a diff'used, finely granular substance being universal. 

 The corpuscles maintain a sharply defined outline ; the continuity of the outline, however, 

 seems frequently somewhat broken in one or two places, as if the circle were formed of 

 two or three short vibriones imperfectly united at their ends. The next day the 

 sediment was still slimy, and could not be taken up by means of a delicately pointed 

 pipette. It still consisted of a streaky semi-membranaceous substance, but the imbedded 

 cells had either become transparent, or presented a granular or minutely molecular 

 appearance (Fig. xli), with no distinct cell wall. Solution of chloride of gold picked 

 them out very distinctly. 



On the third day the flakes had lost their membranaceous character altogether, but 

 many of the granular corpuscles remained. On the fourth day a few animalculaj were 

 seen, which enormously increased by the fifth (Fig. xlii). On three occasions only have 

 I observed the appearance of this protozoon in choleraic discharges. 



Several evacuations from the same patient were subsequently examined ; the flakes, 

 however, did not present the fat globule-like appearance again, but molecular, as shown 

 in the previous Figure (xli). 



