CHAPTER X. 

 Typhoid Fever. 



Typhoid Fever a Bacterial Disease — Recklinghausen's Observations- 

 Klein— Eberth—Klebs— Coats— The Bacillus— Method of Staining— 

 Position in Tissues— Gaffky's Observations— Pure Cultures— Excretory 

 Products — Experiments on Animals — Mixed Infections— Action of 

 Light and Heat on Typhoid Bacilli — Pseudo-typhoid Bacilli. 



From the curious nature of the symptoms of typhoid fever, 

 and from the fact that after complete recovery from an 

 attack there appears to be a certain immunity (for a certain 

 period at any rate) against a second, although relapses are 

 of comparatively frequent occurrence, it was early supposed 

 to be the result of the presence of some specific micro-organ- 

 ism within the body, probably in the deeper tissues of the 

 wall of certain parts of the intestinal canal, and in those 

 organs, such as the spleen and lymphatic glands, that are 

 specially connected or associated with that canal. Although, 

 as early as 1871, Recklinghausen described in abscesses that 

 were formed during the course of an attack of typhoid fever, 

 microbes which he considered to be specific, and although 

 Klein in this country found several varieties of micro- 

 organisms in typhoid lesions, the specific organism was first 

 accurately described, and distinguished from others, by 

 Eberth and Klebs abroad and by Coats in this country, all 

 of whom give very exact descriptions of the typhoid bacillus. 

 These bacilli are short, somewhat thick rods, about 2 to 3/» in 

 length and .3 to .5^ in breadth ; they are usually distinctly 

 rounded at the ends, where the protoplasm is always rather 

 more deeply coloured by aniline dyes than the central 

 portion, which was at one time supposed to be a spore, 

 though more recently this lighter coloured portion has been 

 looked upon as evidence of a process of degeneration. 

 These bacilli are said to be stained with difficulty, but I have 

 found that if the sections in which they are present are first 



