3° METHODS OF EXAMINATION. 



granules are not so readily differentiated, but they also may, by 

 careful examination and treatment, be distinguished from micrococci, 

 for which alone they may be mistaken. (Fat crystals may possibly be 

 mistaken for bacilli, from which, however, they may be distinguished 

 by the difference in the manner of arrangement. Bacilli seldom 

 form clusters, but they frequently form strings or chains, the elements 

 of which form angles at their points of junction with each other — see 

 Fig. 2.) The organic granules are more angular, and have a less re- 

 fractile power than micrococci, though they are more regular in form 

 and more refractive than inorganic particles. The colour is variable, 

 whilst the size and grouping are always more or less irregular. 



Fig. 2. — Anthrax bacillus in scraping taken from cut surface of 

 the spleen of a cow, in a case of splenic fever. Specimen dried, then 

 stained with Bismarck brown, and mounted in a solution of acetate 

 of potash. ( X 700. ) 



17. Small corpuscles from spleen. 



b. Bacilli. Some, simply short rods ; others, made up of a couple 

 of rods which enclose an angle ; others again, arranged in long 

 threads. The bright spores are to be seen in some of these 

 chains (c), whilst fission is taking place in others {d). 



Here, too, the chemical reactions are invaluable, and, by the aid of 

 ether, chloroform, liquor potassae, acetic acid, &c., fat globules, com- 



