FINKLER AND PRIOR'S SPIRILLUM. 429 



to be rather thicker in the centre and more pointed at the 

 ends (Fig. in). In cultures, however, it presents marked 

 differences. In puncture cultures on gelatine it grows 

 much more quickly, and liquefaction is generally visible 

 within twenty-four hours. The liquefaction spreads rapidly, 

 and usually in forty-eight hours it has produced a funnel- 

 shaped tube with turbid contents, denser below (Fig. no, B). 

 In plate cultures the growth of the colonies is proportion- 

 ately rapid. Before they have produced liquefaction around 

 them, they appear, unlike those of the cholera organism, as 

 minute spheres with smooth margins. When liquefaction 

 occurs, they appear as little spheres with turbid contents, 

 which rapidly increase in size. The individual colonies 

 may reach the third of an inch in diameter, and ultimately 

 general liquefaction occurs. On potatoes this organism 

 grows well at the ordinary temperature, and in two or three 

 days has formed a slimy layer of greyish-yellow colour, 

 which rapidly spreads over the potato. On all the media 

 the growth has a distinctly foetid odour. A growth in 

 peptone solution fails to give the cholera-red reaction at the 

 end of twenty-four hours, though later a faint reaction may 

 appear. As stated above, Koch succeeded in producing, 

 by this organism, an intestinal affection in guinea-pigs after 

 neutralising the stomach contents and paralysing the 

 intestine with opium. This occurs in a small proportion of 

 the animals experimented on, and the contents of the 

 intestine, unlike what was found in the case of the cholera 

 organism, were turbid in appearance, and had a markedly 

 foetid odour. When tested by intraperitoneal injection, its 

 effects are somewhat of the same nature as those of the 

 cholera organism, but its virulence is of a much lower 

 order. 



An organism cultivated by Miller from the cavity of a 

 decayed tooth in a human subject is almost certainly the 

 same organism as Finkler and Prior's spirillum. 



Deneke's Spirillum. This organism was obtained from 

 old cheese, and is also known as the spirillum tyrogenum. 

 It closely resembles Koch's spirillum in microscopic appear- 



