BACILLUS SPOROGENES 601 



are flat, round or irregular masses, with small hair-like pro- 

 jections from the margin. In bouillon there is a diffuse 

 clouding and marked white sediment. Milk is quickly 

 coagulated. On potato there is a grayish-white layer. 



The organism grows more rapidly at 30° to 37° C. than 

 at 18° to 20° C. Cultures on agar-agar and bouillon have 

 a slight odor resembling old lime. Bouillon cultures are 

 killed after ten minutes at 58° C. 



Bacterium Welchii was first described by Welch in 1891, 

 and subsequently by Welch and Nuttalli in the blood and 

 internal organs of a patient with thoracic aneurism opening 

 externally. Autopsy was made eight hours after death and 

 the vessels were found to contain large numbers of gas 

 bubbles. 



Injections of considerable quantities of cultures into the 

 circulation of rabbits did not kill the animals, but if the 

 animals were killed after being inoculated and were then 

 allowed to lie at room temperatiu-e for twenty-four hours 

 the organs and tissues were filled with gas bubbles. 



Welch, Howard, Hitschman and Lilienthal, Hirschberg, 

 and others have shown that the organism is frequently 

 present in the feces of man and animals, as well as in the 

 soil and in dust. Schattenfroh and Grassberger also found 

 the organism in market milk. 



BACILLUS SPOROGENES (KLEIN), MIGULA, 1900. 



Synonym: Bacillus enteritidis sporogenes, Klein, 1895. 



Klein found this organism in the intestinal discharges of 

 infants and believed it had some relation to the acute 

 inflammatory conditions of the intestinal tract of bottle-fed 



1 Bulletin Johns Hopkins Hospital, No. 24, 1892. 



