438 PATHOGENIC MICROORGANISMS 



and Duval/ Flexner, and Shiga ^ himself, published communications in 

 which they claimed identity for the various forms previously described. 



In 1902 Park ^ and Dunham described an organism which they 

 found in a small outbreak of dysentery occurring in Maine. This 

 organism differed from most of those previously described in that it 

 was found to produce indol in pepton solutions. 



In the same year Martini * and Lentz published an article in which 

 they attempted to differentiate various dysentery bacilli by means of 

 agglutination. This research is of importance in that it supported the 

 work of Kruse and of Spronck, indicating a difference between the ag- 

 glutinative character of the Kruse organism and the so-called " pseudo- 

 dysentery " type, in which Flexner's organisms were included. It is of 

 further interest, since it indicated a marked difference between Flexner's 

 Philippine cultures and the Philippine culture of Strong, the Strong 

 organism refusing to agglutinate not only in "Shiga" immune serum, 

 but also in " Flexner '' immune serum. 



Simultaneously with this article Lentz ' published the results of com- 

 parative cultural researches with dysentery and "pseudo-dysentery" 

 bacilli, in which he made the important observation that the original 

 Shiga-Kruse bacilli did not affect mannit, while the " pseudo-dysentery " 

 bacilli, including Flexner's and Strong's Philippine cultures, fermented 

 mannit, giving rise to a distinct acid reaction in the medium. The 

 Flexner organisms and others of the "pseudo-dysentery" bacilli, how- 

 ever, fermented maltose, while the Shiga-Kruse type, as well as Strong's 

 bacillus, left it unchanged at the end of fortj'-eight hours. 



In January, 1903, Hiss and Russell " described a bacillus (" Y") from 

 a case of fatal diarrhea in a child, which by ordinary cultural test and 

 absence of motility was found to resemble the Shiga-Kruse and Flexner 

 bacilli. Immediately upon its isolation, it was found, however, to differ 

 from the Kruse culture by its ability to ferment mannit. This observa- 

 tion was made independently of Lentz's work, which, at that time, had 

 not become known in America. In the comparative study of Hiss and 

 Russell on the fermentative abilities of various dysentery cultures, the 

 serum water media (described on page 132) were used. By the use of 



' Vedder and Duval, Jour. Exp. Med., vi, 1902. 



2 Shiga, Zeit. f. Hyg., 41, 1902. 



3 Park and Dunham, N. Y. Univ. Bull, of Med. Sci., 1902. 



* Martini und Lentz, Zeit. t. Hyg., xU, 1902. 

 ' Lentz, Zeit. f. Hyg., xli, 1902. 



• Hiss and Russell, Med. News, Feb., 1903. 



