JOUENAL 



OF THE 



ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 



DECEMBEE 1882. 



TEANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 



XV. — On some Organisms found in the Excrement of the 

 Domestic Goat and the Goose. 



By E. L. Maddox, M.D., Hon. F.E.M.S. 



(Bead 8th November, 1882.) 



Plate VII. 



"When studying lately tlie appearances of the hay-bacillus, both in 

 the fresh and putrid infusion of hay, it occurred to me that it 

 would be worth while to examine the excrement of a herbivorous 

 animal, and a grass-feeding bird. Accordingly, I procured the 

 fresh excreta of the goat, and of the goose, taking from the latter 

 only the part but little, if at all, contaminated with urates. The 

 examinations were begun in the month of August last, and as they 

 proved rather interesting, and may open up a study that may 

 furnish results for experiment, I venture briefly to offer a few 

 remarks upon the organisms found. Photomicrographs were made 

 of some of these, by a Seibert's ^ water-immersion objective, 

 without collar adjustment, kindly lent to me by Mr. dirties for this 

 purpose. I may remark that the objective answered well with the 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE VII. 



(Lithographed from some of the Photomicrographs exhibited.) 



Fig. 1. — A few of the free and growing spores found in the mixture of the 



goose excrement. 

 „ 2. — Part of the layer immediately beneath the upper layer, containing 



micrococci, in the mixture of the goose excrement. 

 „ 3. — Part of the felted mass of short rods, and part of some long free 



filamentary chains. These appeared later in the same mixture. 

 „ 4. — The earliest notice of Spirillum in the goat excrement. 

 „ 5. — Shows the marked increase in the number of Spirilla, and the 



diminution in the number of the rods. 

 „ 6. — Spirillum from goat excrement. [The original photomicrograph wa3 



taken with the addition of a Zeiss amplifier, and magnified to 651 



diameters ; the others, each, to 365 diameters.] 



Ser. 2.— Vol. II. 3 E 



