272 



GLANDERS. 



contain spores. Some consider certain of the unstained 

 portions to be of that nature, and it has been claimed that 



these can be stained 

 by the method for 

 staining spores 

 (Rosenthal). But it 

 is very doubtful that 

 such is the case ; the 

 appearances cor- 

 respond rather with 

 mere breaks in the 

 protoplasm, such as 

 are met with in many 

 other bacilli which 

 do not contain spores, 

 and the compara- 

 tively low powers of 

 resistance of glanders 

 containing 

 these so-called spores 

 is strongly against their being of that nature. The powers 

 of resistance is after all the important practical point. 



Staining. The glanders bacillus differs widely from the 

 tubercle bacillus in its staining reactions. It stains with 

 simple watery solutions of the basic stains, but somewhat 

 faintly (better when an alkali or a mordant, such as carbolic 

 acid, is added), and even when deeply stained it readily 

 loses the colour when a decolorising agent such as alcohol 

 is applied. Loffler and Schutz recommended staining of 

 sections in an alkaline solution of methylene-blue for five 

 minutes and then decolorising for a few seconds in water, 

 10 c.c., to which were added ten drops of a concentrated 

 solution of sulphurous acid and one drop of a 5 per cent 

 solution of oxalic acid. We have, however, obtained the 

 best results by carbol-thionin-blue (p. 109), and we prefer to 

 dehydrate by the aniline-oil method. In film preparations 

 of fresh glanders nodules the bacilli can be ready found by 

 staining with any of the ordinary combinations, e.g., carbol- 



FIG. 73. Glanders bacilli, from a pure 

 culture on glycerine agar. Stained with 

 carbol - fuchsin and partially decolorised to bacilli 

 show segmentation of protoplasm. x 1000. 



