326 



MANUAL OF BACTERIOLOGY. 



produce "gas phlegmons." It 

 has been found on numerous 

 occasions in the organs of human 

 cadavers in which a development 

 of gas had taken place, produc- 

 ing bubbles or cavities in the 

 tissues, imparting to them a 

 peculiar spongy character (Ger- 

 man, Schaumorgane). Probably 

 this is, as a rule, a postmortem 

 invasion, but there is reason to 

 believe that in some cases it 

 enters the circulation during life. 

 It has been found in cases of 

 emphysematous gangrene or cel- 

 lulitis, in various uterine infec- 

 tions, including physometra and 

 emphysema of the uterine wall, 

 in pneumothorax and pneumo- 

 peritonitis, and in other patho- 

 logical conditions where gas 

 occurs in the tissues. Excep- 

 tionally it may cause pus-forma- 

 tion.* This bacillus, or the gas 

 formed by it in the organs of 

 human cadavers, appears to have 

 furnished the basis for some of 

 the cases in which death has.been 

 ascribed to the entrance of air 

 into the veins during life. It is 

 Fig. 78.— Bacillus aerogenes cap- the same Bs the Organism de- 

 ^hS gatrbJ^s. '''^''°'^-^^^'' scribed by E. Frankel as Bacillus 



phlegmonis emphysematosje. 

 * Welch. Philadelphia Medical Journal. August 4, 1900. 



