366 INFECTIVE DISEASES. 



In sections of the intestine their presence may be demonstrated by : — 



(a) Koch's method'. 



Sections of the intestine, which must be well hardened in absolute 

 alcohol, are left for twenty-four hours in a strong, watery solution of 

 methylene-blue, or for a shorter time if the solution is warmed ; then 

 treated in the usual way. 



(6) Babes' m.ethod. 



Sections, preferably from a recent case of cholera, and made as soon as 

 possible after death, are left for twenty-four hours in an aqueous solution 

 of f uchsine, then washed in distilled water, faintly acidulated with acetic 

 acid, or in sublimate solution 1 in 1000, passed rapidly through alcohol, 

 and finally treated in the usual way. 



Klein investigated cholera in India, and does not accept Koch's 

 conclusions, With regard to the inoculation experiments, Klein 

 believes that the living choleraic comma -bacilli, even if introduced 

 in large numbers into the small intestine, are quite innocuous, 

 but capable of great multiplication if the intestine is previously, 

 from, some cause or another, diseased ; the chemical products of the 

 comma-bacilU then act as poisons analogous to the ptomaines 

 obtained from other putrefactive bacteria.. The observations made 

 by Roy, Brown, and Sherrington, in Spain, tended to confirm 

 Koch's views. Comma-bacilli were found to be present, in some 

 cases, in enormous numbers, and the frequency of their occurrence 

 led these observers to believe that they must bear some relation to 



the disease. At the sa.me time, 

 as they failed to find them in all 

 cases, they regarded the existence 

 of a causal relation as not proven. 

 They failed to find the Naples 

 bacterium, or a small, straight 

 bacillus noted by Klein ; and 

 they drew attention to certain 

 Tig. 155.— Comma-shaped Okganisms peculiar mycelium-like threads 



WITH OTHBK BaCTBEIA IN SeWAGE- • ,i i j. ,i 



contaminated Watee, X 1200. ^^ ^he mucous membrane of the 



intestines ; but these cannot be 

 considered to have any significance. Methylene-blue has been 

 employed by Koch and others, including the author, for staining 

 sections of the intestine from cholera cases, and had they been 

 constantly present, it is hardly possible that such striking objects 

 could have been overlooked. Again, we must bear in mind that 

 hypho-mycetous fungi occasionally have been found to occur sapro- 

 phytically in the intestinal canal, as well as in the lungs, external 

 auditory meatus, and elsewhere. Cunningham, of Calcutta, maintains 



