3i8 TYPHOID FEVER. 



the organs of typhoid cases, and succeeded in obtaining 

 from the spleen pure cultures in gelatine. He further 

 described very fully the morphological character of the 

 bacilli both in cultures and when occurring in the body. 

 He held that the bacilli were not putrefactive, as they did 

 not produce putrefactive effects on artificial media ; but all 

 his attempts to reproduce by their means the disease in 

 different species of animals (including monkeys) were 

 unsuccessful. The position, therefore, was that in the 

 great majority of cases of typhoid fever, characteristic 

 bacilli could be found and isolated in pure culture, but 

 that these did not give rise to the disease in animals. 



During the years succeeding the publication of the work of Eberth, 

 Koch, and Gaffky, the results of these investigators were confirmed so 

 far as they went, but little further advance was made. In 1885, 

 Escherich, working on the first appearance of organisms in the bowel 

 of the new-born infant, described a bacillus which he named the 

 bacillus coli conuininis (often subsequently named the bacterium coli 

 coDimnne and also Escherich's bacillus). This also was shown to be 

 identical with the bacillus neapolitanus which Emmerich found in the 

 intestines of the victims of a cholera epidemic at Naples. Weisser, 

 who worked at the subject, pointed out that the B. coli was a normal 

 inhabitant of the human intestine ; and, further, comparing the growth 

 characters of this bacillus with those of the typhoid bacillus, noted 

 the similarities which exist between the two microbes. Doubt was 

 thus cast on the causal relationship of Eberth's bacillus to typhoid 

 fever. 



From this time forward, the question of the morphological relation- 

 ships of the two organisms has played an important part in the bacterio- 

 logical investigation of the subject. There has been much controversy 

 as to whether they are varieties of the same species, and also as to 

 whether, in view of the fact that the B. coli is a normal inhabitant of 

 the human intestine, the B. typhosus may not originate de novo from 

 it in every case. The result, however, is a growing conviction that 

 for an unknown time, at any rate, the two have been distinct species. . 



The Bacillus Typhosus. Microscopic Appearances. 

 Most observers will agree with Gaffky in attributing any 

 failure to find typhoid bacilli in the organs of a typhoid 

 patient to the difficulties of the search. Numerous sections 

 of different parts of a spleen, for example, may be examined 

 before a characteristic group is found. The best tissues for 



