366 MANUAL OF BACTERIOLOGY. 



dies after two or more weeks. At least two guinea-pigs should 

 be inoculated; and the test may sometimes fail, when it should 

 be repeated on other guinea-pigs.* The test may also fail 

 on account of the death of the guinea-pigs from peritonitis. 



Frothingham further points out that there is another 

 organism beside B. mallei which produces ulceration of the 

 guinea-pig testicles which may, however, be distinguished 

 from the latter on potato cultures by its white growth. The 

 brownish-yellow growth of B. mallei on pota,to resembles the 

 growth of B. pyocyaneus at first, but the latter causes in two 

 or three days a greenish discoloration of the potato. B. mallei 

 does not do this. 



Mallein is a product obtained from old glycerin-bouillon 

 cultures of Bacillus mallei. The cultures are sterilized in a 

 stearn sterilizer at 100° C. for several hours, and are filtered 

 through a Pasteur-Chamberlin cylinder of unglazed porcelain. 

 The filtrate contains the products of the growth of the Bacillus 

 mallei and is of much the same character as tuberculin. 

 Injected into animals suspected of having glanders, if it pro- 

 duces a local and febrile reaction, the existence of glanders 

 is indicated. This reaction is of use in the diagnosis of the 

 disease in lower animals, especially in horses, where it has been 

 largely employed, though it sometimes fails. An agglutination 

 reaction has been described for the bacillus of glanders. 



In regard to this reaction Moore and Taylorf find that it 

 is easier to perform and quite as accurate as the mallein test. 



Actinomyces BovisJ (Streptothrix actinomyces; Ray- 

 fungus of Actinomycosis). — The morphology of this organism 

 is quite different from that of most of the bacteria. It is 

 sometimes considered to be a bacterium of & higher type. The 

 organism appears in the form of threads which show genuine 



♦Frothingham. Journal Medical Research. Vol. VI. 1901. 

 ■\Journ. Inject. Dis. Supplement No. 3. 1907. pp. 85-94. 

 jHektoen. Philadelphia Monthly Medical Journal. November, i8gg. 

 Ewing. Bulletin Johns Hopkins Hospital. November, 1902. 



