378 



TETANUS. 



be a slender organism, usually about 4 /z tq 5 /A in length 

 and .4 //, in thickness, with somewhat rounded ends. Be- 

 sides occurring as short rods it also develops filamentous 

 forms, the latter being more common in fluid media. It 



w 



FIG. 95. Film preparation of discharge from wound in a case of tetanus, 

 showing several tetanus bacilli of ' ' drumstick " form. (The thicker bacillus 

 with oval and not quite terminal spore, in the upper part of the field towards 

 the right side, is not a tetanus bacillus but a putrefactive anaerobe which 

 was obtained in pure culture from the wound. ) 



Stained with gentian-violet. x 1000. 



stains readily by any of the usual stains and also by Gram's 

 method. A feature in it is the uniformity with which the 

 protoplasm stains. It is very slightly motile, and its 

 motility can be best studied in an anaerobic hanging-drop 

 preparation (p. 76). When stained by the special methods 

 already described, it is found to possess numerous delicate 



