948 Transactions of the Society. 



passed a nearly clear fluid dejection, one hour later another, two 

 hours later a similar one, and again within half an hour another 

 liquid dejection with a little solid matter. As each of these had 

 been found, microscopically, to contain a few curved bacilli, part of 

 each dejection was used, under every precaution, to further inoculate 

 the tube, which up to that time had remained perfectly clear. The 

 fly was exceedingly restless. The clear meat infusion after thirty- two 

 hours showed marked but not excessive turbidity, and was found to 

 contain numbers of long and short motile rods, some exceedingly 

 pale and fine in various stages of growth, also a few coarse, stout, 

 short, motionless rods, and many long and short spiral or narrow 

 undulating filaments or spirilla forms, similar to those found by the 

 extension of the commas in filamentary union, common in some 

 cultivations, also a few single curved commas and numberless 

 micrococci. Only two of the spiral filaments were noticed in 

 movement. They were not very readily seen in the unstained fluid, 

 but a weak solution of rose anilin acetate showed them up beauti- 

 fully, and enabled me to sketch them. For comparison another 

 sketch was made of similar organisms from the agar-agar culture, 

 diluted with a droj)let of distilled water. From the 27th to the 

 29th, as the fly seemed somewhat revived, yet did not succeed in 

 crawling to the top of the tumbler, it was fed from the pure agar- 

 agar culture, with the addition of distilled water on the sugar. 



Further experiments were still necessary, as I had not yet suc- 

 ceeded in inoculating a solid gelatin culture from the fl'jr "dejections. 

 On the 31st, part of thirty-one semi-solid excreta passed in little 

 over thirty-six hours, and containing only a few curved bacilli, 

 were mingled in a droplet of distilled water, with a flattened 

 sterilized platinum wire, and used to inoculate a solid gelatin 

 culture, left at the ordinary temperature of the room, 65° F. 



On September 1st, the examination of ten mixed dejections gave 

 only a few commas and small rods beside the micrococci. On the 

 2nd there were fourteen excreta with one fluid one, seven were mixed 

 with part of the fluid dejection and the minutest portion of freshly 

 boiled distilled water, and used to inoculate another gelatin tube ; the 

 other seven were mixed in the same way and added to a similar gelatin 

 culture rendered just fluid enough for plate cultivation, mixed and 

 poured out on to four of the ordinary 3 x 1 in. slides, sterilized by over 

 heating, and under the usual precautions set aside at the temperature 

 of the room, 65° F. These slides on the third day were crowded 

 with minute growths of micrococci, a few patches with the straight 

 rods, but on one slide there were three distinct characteristic growths 

 of the curved bacillus, none were found on the others. The gelatin 

 tube which had been inoculated from the other seven dry dejections 

 on the 2nd, and kept at the ordinary temperature of the room, 

 about 65° F., had on the third day on its surface a whitish raised 



