428 



CHOLERA. 



result ; even with large quantities death is rarely produced. 

 The vibrio Metchnikovi produces somewhat similar effects in 

 the guinea-pig to those in the pigeon, subcutaneous inocula- 

 tion being followed by extensive haemorrhagic oedema, and 

 a rapidly fatal septicaemia. Young fowls can be infected by 

 feeding with virulent cultures. We have evidence from the 

 work of Gamaleia that the toxines of this organism have some- 

 what the same action as those of the cholera organism. 

 The organism is therefore one which very closely 



resembles the cholera 

 organism, the results 

 on inoculating the 



^l pigeon offering the 



^/ s most ready means 



of distinction. It 



'\,\ , ,)f gives a negative re- 



^j action to- Pfeiffer's 



test; that is, the 

 properties of an anti- 

 cholera serum are not 

 exerted against it. It 



X^^ may also be men- 



*-^ tioned that an or- 



ganism which is ap- 

 parently the same as 

 the vibrio Metchni- 

 kovi was cultivated 

 by Pfuhl from water, 

 and named v. Nordhafen. 



Finkler and Prior's Spirillum. These observers, 

 shortly after Koch's discovery of the cholera organism, 

 separated a spirillum, in a case of cholera nostras, from the 

 stools after they had been allowed to decompose for several 

 days. There is, however, no evidence that the spirillum 

 has any causal relationship to this or any other disease in 

 the human subject. Morphologically it closely resembles 

 Koch's spirillum, and cannot be distinguished from it by its 

 microscopical characters, although, on the whole, it tends 



FIG. in. Finkler and Prior's spirillum, 

 from an agar culture of twenty-four hours' 

 growth. 



Stained with carbol-fuchsin. x 1000. 



