XV] ANAEROBIC BACILLI 403 



spherical, oval, crescentic, granular, spindle-shaped or 

 threadlike bodies of about the size of red blood discs, or 

 larger and smaller fractions of them, after a few hours to a 

 few days after insertion of the lymph, in the tissue of 

 the corneal substance or in the corneal epithelium. These 

 bodies stain in dyes somewhat like red blood discs or 

 haemoglobin masses, and to my mind, after reading the 

 description and illustrations given by E. Pfeiffer, the proba- 

 bilities are very great that these bodies are in reality blood 

 discs or part of such, as well as nuclei of leucocytes, that 

 had been introduced into the cornea with the vaccine lymph. 

 What must appear extremely curious is— (i) the indefinite 

 shape and size of these bodies, and (2) the fact that accord- 

 ing to these observers they should be capable of growth and 

 multiplication in the rabbit's cornea, which animal is well 

 known to be insusceptible to vaccinia. 



It cannot be said from the facts adduced that we have 

 really to do with a living parasite ; it seems to me for 

 the above reasons more probable that these bodies are not 

 parasites at all. 



D D 



