BACILLUS TETANI 9 1 



EXERCISE XLIV 



BACILLUS TETANI 



139. The bacillus of tetanus occurs in nature as a common 

 inhabitant of the soil, at least it is found in the soil in certain 

 localities. They are believed to be more numerous in certain 

 places where manure has been thrown in abundance. This 

 organism is anaerobic and consequently must be cultivated 

 according to methods necessary for such bacteria (see para- 

 graphs 89-90) . In its effect upon the animal body it remains at 

 the point of inoculation, the disease being produced by the 

 toxin elaborated by the bacilli. 



References. — See text-books. Kitasato, Zeit. f. Hygiene. 

 Bd. X., S. 267. Wesbrook, Jour. Path, and Bact., Vol. III., p. 70, 

 Kanthack (morphology). Ibid., Vol. IV., p. 452. Vaillard and Rou- 

 get (etiology). An. de I'lnst. Pasteur, T. VII., p. 755. 



140. Work for this Exercise. — Carefully examine the 2 cul- 

 tures made in the last exercise of tetanus bacilli and describe 

 their appearance. 



Make 2 cover-glass preparations from the liquid culture and 

 stain them with carbol fuchsin. Examine them microscopically 

 and describe their appearance. Make a drawing of a few 

 bacilli magnified 1000 diameters. Keep these cultures until 

 the next exercise, when they should be reexamined and re- 

 jected. 



Inoculate a tube of each medium in Groups A and B with 

 Bacterium anthracis from a culture furnished for study at the 

 next exercise. 



141. Method of Isolating Tetanus Bacilli. — Tetanus bacilli 

 rarely extend beyond the place of inoculation, into the body, 

 of the infected individual (man or lower animal). In the 

 local lesion there are almost always other bacteria, so that cul- 



