GLANDERS — TYPHOID FEVER 73 



may possibly contain the bacillus in pure culture. In this case it 

 may be identified by the characters of its growth upon potato. 

 The colonies have the colour and appearance of honey at first ; 

 they grow very rapidly, coalesce, and the potato is soon covered 

 with a moist-looking film, which afterwards becomes brown, the 

 surface of the medium in the neighbourhood becoming greenish- 

 brown. If cultures from pus grown on potato exhibit these 

 appearances, and contain a short and thick bacillus which does 

 not stain by Gram's method, the case may be diagnosed as being 

 probably one of glanders, even although the culture be not a 

 pure one. 



It should be borne in mind, however, that the common B. coli 

 resembles the glanders bacillus in some of its characters, and 

 having regard to the importance of making a correct diagnosis, 

 verification by means of animal experiments is almost essential. 



The prognosis on ordinary methods of treatment is so bad that 

 the use of vaccines should always be borne in mind, though it 

 must be confessed the results, so far, have not been promising. 

 The doses at first should be extremely small, and be increased 

 with great caution, attention being paid to the temperature and 

 clinical signs. 



TYPHOID FEVER 



Typhoid fever is caused by a bacillus which is variable in 

 length, though usually short (about half as long as a tubercle 

 bacillus) and thick, its length being only about three times its 

 breadth ; very long forms also occur, but in small numbers. It 

 does not form spores, and it does not stain by Gram's method. 

 It is actively motile ; when a culture of the organism in a fluid 

 medium is examined under the microscope, the bacilli can be 

 seen darting rapidly about in all directions. The bacillus owes 

 its motility to the possession of a large number of long, wavy 

 flagella, which can only be seen after special and difficult staining 

 processes. 



The B. coli communis, the most plentiful organism of the in- 

 testine in man and animals, bears a very close resemblance to 

 the typhoid bacillus, and can only be distinguished therefrom by 

 the application of several cultural and chemical tests, the perform- 

 ance of which takes a considerable amount of time. This renders 

 it very difficult to diagnose typhoid fever by methods similar to 



