Cultivation 621 



defended from flies, which may carry the organisms to them and 

 infect them. The intestinal evacuations and all the clothing, 

 bedding, and other articles used by the patients should be carefully 

 disinfected. 



Possible "carriers" of the disease among convalescents should be 

 looked for and detained in the hospital until the spirilla are no longer 

 to be found in their intestines. 



SPIRILLA RESEMBLING THE CHOLERA SPIRILLUM 



The Finkler and Prior Spirillum (Spirillum Proteus) 

 Synonym. — Vibrio proteus; Vibrio of Finkler and Prior. 



This spirillum was obtained from the feces of a case of cholera nostras by Finkler 

 and Prior.* 



Fig. 247. — Spirillum of Finkler and Prior, from an agar-agar culture. X looo 

 (Itzerott and Niemann). 



Morphology. — It is shorter and stouter than the "comma bacillus," has a more 

 pronounced curve, and rarely forms long spirals. The central portion is also 

 somewhat thinner than the ends, which are a little pointed and give the organ- 

 ism a less uniform appearance. Involution forms are common in cultures, 

 and appear as spheres, spindles, clubs, etc. Like the cholera spirillum, each 

 organism is provided with a single flagellum situated at its end, and is actively 

 motile. 



Staming. — The organism stains readily with the ordinary solutions, but not by 

 Gram's method. 



Cultivation.— Colonies. — The growth upon gelatin plates is rapid, and leads to 

 such extensive liquefaction that four or five dilutions must frequently be made to 

 secure few enough organisms to enable one to observe the growth of a single 

 colony. To the naked eye the deep colonies appear as small white points. They 

 rapidly reach the surface, begin liquefaction of the gelatin, and by the second day 

 appear about the size of lentils, and are situated in little depressions. Under the 

 microscope they are yellowish brown, finely granular, and are surrounded by a 

 zone of sharply circumscribed liquefied gelatin. Careful examination with a 

 flign-power lens shows rapid movement of the granules in the colony. 



* "Centralbl. fur allg. Gesundheitspflege," Bonn, 1885, Bd. i; "Deutsche med. 

 Wochenschrift," 1884, p. 632. 



