582 



The Finkler and Prior Spirillum 



scum is usually formed upon the surface. The more extensive and more rapid 

 liquefaction of the medium, the wider top to the funnel, the absence of the air- 

 bubble, and the clouded nature of the liquefied material, all serve to differ- 

 entiate the culture from the cholera spirillum. 



Agar-agar. — Upon agar-agar the growth is also rapid, and in a short time the 

 whole surface of the culture medium is covered with a moist, thick, slimy coating, 

 which may have a slightly yellowish tinge. 



Bouillon. — In bouillon the organism causes a diffuse turbidity with a more or 

 less distinct pellicle on the surface. In sugar-containing culture-media it causes 

 no fermentation and generates no gas. 



Potato. — The cultures upon potato are also different from those of the cholera 

 organism, for the Finkler and Prior spirilla grow rapidly at the room tempera- 

 ture, and produce a grayish-yellow, slimy shining layer, which may cover the 

 whole of the culture-medium. 



Blood-serum. — Blood-serum is rapidly liquefied by the organism. 



Milk. — The spirillum does not grow well in milk, and speedily dies in water. 



Fig. 242. — Spirillum of Finkler and Prior; gelatin puncture cultures aged forty- 

 eight and sixty hours (Shakespeare). 



Metabolic Products. — The organism does not produce indol. Buchner has 

 shown that in media containing some glucose an acid reaction is produced. Pro- 

 teolytic enzymes capable of dissolving gelatin, blood-serum, and casein are 

 formed. 



Pathogenesis. — It was at first supposed that if not the spirillum of cholera 

 itself, this was a very closely alHed organism. Later it was supposed to be the 

 cause of cholera nostras. At present it is a question whether the organism has 

 any pathologic significance. It was in one case secured by Knisl from the feces of 

 a suicide, and has been found in carious teeth by M tiller. 



When injected into the stomach of guinea-pigs treated with tincture of opium 

 according to the method of Koch, about 30 per cent, of the animals die, but the 

 intestinal lesions produced are not identical with those produced by the cholera 

 spirillum. The intestines in such cases are pale and filled with watery material 

 having a strong putrefactive odor. This fluid teems with the spirilla. 



It seems unlikely, from the evidence thus far collected, that the_ Finkler and 

 Prior spirillum is pathogenic for the human species. As Frankel points out, it is 

 probably a frequent and harmless inhabitant of the human intestine. 



