^^o Microscopic Organisms in Blood and, their Relation to Disease, [part hi. 



still under the influence of the chloroform, ligatures were passed around the several 

 viscera so as to isolate them before death had taken place. Finally, a ligature was 

 passed around the vessels at the base of the heart, and the organ severed from the 

 body. 



The specimens thus procured were repeatedly dipped into either melted paraffin 

 or wax, by means of the string attached to them. In this way they became coated 

 something after the manner of the cotton wick of a candle. Preparations thus made 

 were set aside for from 12 to 24 hours according as the average temperature of the 

 atmosphere was over or under 90° F., and it was almost invariably found that organ- 

 isms appeared in them, almost, if not quite, as rapidly as they appeared in the bodies 

 of animals which had been simply set aside under like conditions. In the former 

 case, however, the supposition that they were derived from the alimentary canal after 

 death is not possible ; not can it well be maintained that they derived their germs 

 from contact with the scalpel, string, etc., seeing that the entire surface was exposed 

 to the influence of melting paraffin or wax. 



The first figure in Plate XLI represents a tracing of a micro-photograph of the bacilli 

 obtained in the manner above described from the blood of a mouse, to all appearances 

 perfectly healthy when killed. A little of the blood was spread in a thin layer on a 

 glass cover and allowed to dry, then, a drop of a solution of aniline-blue, was added to 

 the slide, so as to stain the microphytes and thus render them more distinctly visible 

 when focussed in the camera. The photographs were obtained by means of a jV object 

 glass (immersion) made by Messrs. Powell and Lealand. 



When first seen in the blood, the majority of these bacilli are motionless ; in 

 some preparations completely so, but in others they can be observed to manifest more 

 or less distinctly marked, independent movements. They vary in size — in length 

 chiefly, according as their development into filaments has advanced. The average 

 length of each rod is found to be either byt, or 10//,.* In the latter case a more or 

 less distinctly marked bend will be recognisable, indicative of a joint. In more advanced 

 stages of growth, two, three, or more such joints may be detected, especially on the 

 addition of re-agents, such as tincture of iodine. In this case the bacilli will measure 

 either 15, 20, 25, or more micro-millimeters. The length of these segments, whether 

 attached or free, varies considerably in preparations from different animals, and even in 

 preparations from the same animal ; so that staves may be seen to range from 3 to 

 6/A in length, and occasionally even to exceed these limits. The average width of the 

 staves was l/u,, but deviations from the average were equally evident in these measure- 

 ments also. Sometimes it was found that the specimens present in one organ are 

 smaller or larger than they are in another belonging to the same animal. 



* IL = micro-millimeter (•001 mm.). This mode of stating the measurements is adopted in connection with 

 this series of observations for convenience of comparison with like observations regarding Bacillus anthracis. It 

 will be convenient to remember that the average size of a human red blood-corpuscle = 8^. 



