CHAPTER XXIII. 



Spirilla of interest, historically and otherwise, that have been con- 

 founded with the spirillum of Asiatic cholera — Their peculiarities 

 and differential features — Vibrio proteus, or bacillus of Finkler and 

 Prior — SpiriUtim tyrogenum, or cheese spirillum of Deneke — The 

 spirillum of Miller — Vibrio Metchnikovi. 



VIBRIO PEOTEUS (PINKLEE-PEIOE BACILLUS). 



FiNKLEE AND Peioe Were the first to question experi- 

 mentally the significance of the presence of Koch's 

 comma bacillus in Asiatic cholera, claiming to ha^s'e 

 found it in the dejections of individuals suffering from 

 other maladies, particularly cholera nostras. The mor- 

 phological and biological differences between the or- 

 ganism that Finkler and Prior discovered and the 

 comma bacillus described by Koch, are, however, so 

 pronounced as to -warrant the opinion that the confusion 

 arose through imperfect and untrustworthy methods of 

 experimentation. Subsequently Finkler and Prior re- 

 tracted their claims of identity for the two organisms, 

 and held that the bacterium with which they were deal- 

 ing was peculiar to cholera nostras — an opinion which, 

 in the light of later work, was also proved to be with- 

 out foundation. 



The characteristics of the spirillum of Finkler and 

 Prior are as follows : 



MoEPHOLOGY. — It is thicker and longer than the 

 spirillum of Asiatic cholera ; it is often thicker at the 

 middle than at the poles ; it forms, like the " comma 

 bacillus," screw-like, twisted threads, (Fig. 79.) 



473 



