586 Spirillum Schuylkiliensis 



twenty-four hours. A distinct inflammation of the intestine, with exudate and 

 numerous spirilla, may be found. The spirilla can also be found in the heart's 

 blood and in the organs of such guinea-pigs. When the bacilli are introduced 

 by subcutaneous inoculation, the autopsy shows a bloody edema and a superficial 

 necrosis of the tissues. 



The organisms can be found in the blood and all the organs of pigeons and 

 young chickens, in such large numbers that Pfeiffer has called the disease Vibrio- 

 nensepticmmia. In the intestines very few alterations are noticeable, and very 

 few spirilla can be found. 



Immunity. — Gamaleia has shown that pigeons and guinea-pigs can be made 

 immune by inoculating them with cultures sterilized for a time at a temperature 

 of ioo°C. Mice and rabbits are immune, except to very large doses. 



Fig. 246.— Spirillum metchnikovi; puncture culture in gelatin forty-eight hours 

 old (Frankel and Pfeiffer). 



Spirillum Schuylkiliensis (Abbott) 



Morphology. — This micro-organism, closely resembling the cholera spirillum, 

 was found by Abbott* in sewage-polluted water from the Schuylkill River at 

 Philadelphia. 



Cultivation. — Colonies. — The colonies developed upon gelatin plates very 

 closely resemble those of the Spirillum metschnikovi. 



Gelatin punctures. — In gelatin puncture cultures the appearance is exactly like 

 the true cholera spirillum. At times the growth is a little more rapid. 



Agar-agar. — The growth on agar is luxuriant, and gives off a pronounced odor 

 of indol. 



Blood-serum. — ^Loffler's blood-serum is apparently not a perfectly adapted 

 medium, but upon it the organisms grow, with resulting liquefaction. 



. Potato. — Upon potato, at the point of inoculation a thin, glazed, more or less 

 dirty yellow growth, shading to brown and sometimes surrounded by a flat, dry, 

 lusterless zone, is formed. 



Milk. — In litmus milk a reddish tinge develops after the milk is kept twenty- 

 four hours at body temperature. After forty-eight hours this color is increased 

 and the milk coagulates. 



Metabolic Products. — In peptone solutions indol is easily detected. No gas is 

 produced in glucose-containing culture-media. Acids and coagulating enzymes 

 are formed. The organism is a facultative anaerobe. 



* "Journal of Experimental Medicine," July, 1896, vol. i. No. 3, p. 419. 



