Morphology 



623 



Bouillon. — ^In bouillon the organism causes a diffuse turbidity with a more or 

 less distinct pellicle on the surface. In sugar-containing culture-media it causes 

 no fermentation and generates no gas. 



Potato. — The cultures upon potato are also different from those of the cholera 

 organism, for the Finkler and Prior spirilla grow rapidly at the room tempera-* 

 ture, and produce a grayish-yellow, slimy, shining layer, which may cover the 

 whole of the culture-medium. 



Blood-serum. — Blood-serum is rapidly liquefied by the organism. 



Milk. — The spirillum does not grow well in nulk, and speedily dies in water. 



Metabolic Products. — The organism does not produce nitroso-indol, nor does 

 any indol make its appearance before 24 hours, and then only in small quanti- 

 ties. Buchner has shown that in media containing some glucose an acid reaction 

 is produced. Proteolytic enzymes capable of dissolving gelatin, blood-serum 

 and casein are formed. 



Pa^ogenesis. — ^It was at first supposed that if not the spirillum of cholera 

 itself, this was a very closely allied organism. Later it was supposed to be the 

 cause of cholera nostras. At present it is a question whether the organism has 



Fig. 250. — Spirillum of Denecke, from an agar-agar culture. X 1000 (Itzerott 



and Niemann). 



any pathologic significance. It was in one case secured by Knisl from the feces 

 of a suicide, and has been found in carious teeth by MiiUer. 



When injected into the stomach of guinea-pigs treated with tincture of opium 

 according to the method of Koch, about 30 per cent, of the animals die, but the 

 intestinal lesions produced are not identical with those produced by the cholera 

 spirillum. The intestines in such cases are pale and fiUed with watery material 

 having a strong putrefactive odor. This fluid teems with the spirilla._ 



It seems unlikely, from the evidence thus far collected, that the Finkler and 

 Prior spirillum is pathogenic for the human species. As Frankel pomts out, it is 

 probably a frequent and harmless inhabitant of the human intestine. 



The Spirillum of Denecke (Spirillum Tyrogenum) 



Another organism with a partial resemblance to the cholera spirillum was found 

 by Denecke* in old cheese. 



Morphology.— Its form issimilar to that of the cholera spirillum, the shorter 

 individuals being of equal diameter throughout. The spiral forms are longer 

 than those of the Finkler and Prior spirillum, and are more tightly coiled than 

 those of the cholera spirillum. 



* "Deutsche med. Wochenschrift," 1885. 



