September 26, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



451 



THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN 

 BACTERIOLOGISTS. Ill 



PATHOLOGIC BACTEEIOLOGT 



Cultivation and Differentiation of Fusiform Ba- 

 cilli: Chaeles Krumwiede, Jr., and Josephine 

 Pkatt, Research Laboratory, Department of 

 Health, New York City. 



Isolation: Dilutions of the original material are 

 made in a series of tubes of ascitic fluid or horse 

 serum. To these is added fluid agar and they are 

 then poured in the covers of petri dishes. While 

 the agar is still fluid the lower part of the petri 

 dish is laid on the agar, giving a layer of agar 

 between the two parts of the dish. After forty- 

 eight to seventy-two hours the upper glass is sepa- 

 rated from the agar and the distinctive colonies 

 fished. The colony is characterized by the thread- 

 like outgrowths from one or both sides of the col- 

 ony. Cultivation : A semi-solid medium employing 

 stab inoculation is most convenient for preserva- 

 tion of cultures. The puncture closes after inocu- 

 lation and subinoculations are easily performed, 

 due to the softness of the medium. Aerobic con- 

 tamination is quickly noted. The medium is pre- 

 pared as follows: 



Agar 10 gms. 



Gelatin 80 gms. 



Veal brijth, 2 per cent, peptone, 



no salt 1,000 c.c. 



Horse serum or ascitic fluid 1 part 



Horse serum has given more uniform results than 

 ascitic fluid. Although there is a difference in 

 various strains in their ability to grow on simple 

 media, serum containing media are necessary for 

 surety of cultivation of all strains. 

 Source and Number of Cultures being Studied 



Noma 2 strains 



Vincent 's angina 5 strains 



Spongy bleeding gums 1 strain 



Pyrrhoea 2 strains 



Chronic otitic media foul dis- 

 charge 3 strains 



Carious teeth 1 strain 



Ulceration of tongue 1 strain 



Morphology and Cultural Differentiation: The 

 typical bacillus is more or less pointed. In cul- 

 tures they are extremely pleomorphic, filaments 

 and wavy forms simulating spirochetes being 

 found. No morphological differentiation has been 

 made. Sugar fermentations show some differ- 

 ences, but these differences show no relation to 

 the source of the culture. Pathogenicity: Ab- 

 scesses can be produced under the thin skin cover- 

 ing the cartilage of the ear of rabbits. Eelation 

 to Spirochetes: Spirochetal-like forms can be 

 found especially in fluid media. The relation of 



2 parts 



Total 15 



these to the spirochetes in the original material 

 has not been sufficiently studied. 



The Morphology of Cultural Am.ebas: Anna Wes- 

 SELs Williams, Research Laboratory, Health 

 Department, City of New York. 

 The paper was a report of the studies on cul- 

 tural amebas grown under conditions as nearly as 

 possible like those of the habitat from which the 

 amebas were obtained. "Ameba 11,524," ob- 

 tained originally by Musgrave and Clegg from the 

 stools of a case of human amebic dysentery, when 

 grown on fresh brain tissue medium at high tem- 

 perature (34° C. to 38° C.) for several days with 

 the addition each day of fresh blood and, after 

 two days, of small amounts of certain bacteria, 

 continues a vigorous growth and shows from day 

 to day a marked pleomorphism. The organisms 

 lose their contractile vacuole and the nuclei assume 

 many of the appearances described as character- 

 istics of the "entameba" group in man. As 

 many as eight nuclei have been found in a tro- 

 phozoite, and six in a cyst, the usual number so 

 far seen is four in each. In this particular as 

 well as in size and in a " cyclic ' ' change of the 

 karyosome, this species most frequently resembles 

 the pathogenic species described as Entameba 

 tetragena. Conclusion: (1) Cultural amebas iso- 

 lated from the stools of dysenteric patients, are 

 much more complicated in morphology than we 

 have been led to think, and grovm under condi- 

 tions approaching those found in the intestines 

 they closely resemble species described as strict 

 parasites. (2) The question of species and patho- 

 genicity of amebas found in dysenteric stools will 

 probably be settled finally and not until then, 

 when a comparative study is made of amebas in 

 their natural habitat with pure cultures isolated 

 from the same cases and grown under conditions 

 similar to those found in the habitat from which 

 many were isolated. 



Observation on the Intestinal Bacteria in Pel- 

 lagra: W. J. MacNeal. 



This report is based upon the work of the Illi- 

 nois State Pellagra Commission' and of the 

 Thompson-McFadden Pellagra Commission of the 

 New York Postgraduate Medical School. A gen- 

 eral survey of the fecal bacteria by the methods 

 previously employed in studying the feces of 

 healthy men^ showed considerable variation from 

 '^Archives of Internal Med., August, 1912, pp. 

 123-168, and September, 1912, pp. 219-249. 



'Journ. of Infec. Diseases, Vol. 6, No. 2, April, 

 1909, pp. 123-169, and Vol. 6, No. 5, November, 

 1909, pp. 571-609. 



