1921] Kofoid-Sivczy : Councilmcvnia laflenri 185 



CULTURE AND INOCULATION 



Attempts to culture Councilmania in diluted cat's blood and 

 diluted human pleuritic exsudate (1 to 10) in Locke's solution have 

 failed, as did also attempts at culture in blood clot, in blood agar 

 (made with the blood of the cat and of the guinea pig), in plain agar, 

 and in nutrient broth. 



Attempts to culture with solid tissue under aerobic and anaerobic 

 conditions likewise failed. We are indebted to Misses Steding and 

 Burgis for many of these tests. 



Inocidations by feeding nine young rats were negative. Cysts were 

 discharged in the rat's faeces for not more than the first forty-eight 

 hours, but the faeces were negative thereafter for from 33 to 77 days, 

 and no Cmmcilmania were found in six of them at autopsy. Rectal 

 injection into four young rats has thus far given negative results. "We 

 are indebted to Mr. J. P. Kessel for these experiments. 



VIABILITY OP CYSTS 



In our student laboratory Mr. L. Freudenthal made a test of the 

 viability of the cysts of Councilmania, using eosin staining as a test. 

 On the 17th day 85 per cent of 233 cysts were alive, 5.7 per cent dead, 

 and 5.3 per cent moribund. On the 31st day 85 per cent were still 

 alive and 15 per cent dead. 



Another heavily infected stool was kept at room temperature in a 

 glass jar for forty days. The faecal matter was smeared on the sides 

 of the container and was kept moist but not flooded. In this case there 

 was great variation at times in the proportion of live and dead cysts 

 observed on any given day, indicating that the cysts are not equally 

 viable in all parts of the stool. On the fortieth day cysts were still 

 alive in this stool with no convincing evidence that they were dying 

 out. On the sixty-fifth day about 80 per cent of the cysts were still 

 alive. 



Cysts in human urine appear to die more quickly than in water. 

 In five different stools the cysts were all dead in five hours in urine, 

 but not in controls, as tested by Mr. L. Freudenthal in the student 

 laboratory. In another instance most of them were still living at the 

 end of forty-eight hours. The variables are so great in these tests that 

 conclusions should be based only upon repeated experiments. 



