CHOLERAIC DIABBHCEA FROM MEAT POISOIilSG. 371 



liquefied along the whole track of the needle, so that the cultivation 

 resembles a conical sack, or the iinger of a glove turned inside out. 

 On a sloping surface of nutrient agar-agar a white moist layer forms 

 very qnickly. On potato they grow at the ordinary temperature 

 of the air, producing a brownish layer and corrosion of the surface 

 of the potato. They have been shown to be pathogenic. 



Cholebaic I>iakrh(ea fboh Meat Poisosifg. 



There are two varieties of choleraic diarrhoea from meat poisoning, 

 and both are associated with vomiting, diarrhoea, pain in the abdo- 

 men, in severe cases followed by suppression of urine, collapse, and 

 death. These conditions are brought about by poisonous foods, and 

 include those cases of poisoning by tinned meats, pork pies, hams, 

 cheese, sardines, and other articles of food improperly prepared. In 

 mc^ cases putrefaction has taken place, owing to the action of 

 various bacteria. Associated with their growth we find highly 

 poisonous substances, but no bacteria are f oimd in the body in these 

 cases. They are all due to chemical poisoning ; but Klein has also 

 described cases of poisoning due to the growth of bacteria without 

 the presence of putrefaction- The latter were of the nature of an 

 infectious disease. In the Welbeck poisoning cases, described by 

 Ballard, the poisonous hams contained a short bacillus, which was 

 also found in the kidney and spleen in the fatal cases in man. In 

 the Carlisle epidemic, which was due to poisonous pork pies, the pork 

 and gravy stock proved fatal to mice, and from the infected mice 

 a bacillus was cultivated, which, administered to mice by feeding or 

 subcutaneous inoculation, produced enteritis, diarrhoea, and congestion 

 of the lungs. 



Gartner cultivated BacQlus enteritidis from the spleen in a 

 fatal case of meat poisoning. Gaffky obtained a similar bacOlus in 

 cases of gastro-enteritis, following^ the consumption of meat and 

 sausages, which had been made of horseflesh. 



BaciUns of Cboleraic Diarrhcea from Meat-poisonisg 

 (Elein). — Bods from 3 to 9 /t in langth, IS fi wide, rounded at their 

 extremities, singly or in chains of two. Spore-formation occui's, 

 the spores being 1 /i thick, oval, and situated in the centre or at 

 the end of the rod. 



Feeding mice with the bacilli and inoculation produced positive 

 results. At the autopsy, pneumonia, peritonitis, pleuritis, enlargement 

 of the liver and spleen, and haemorrhages were observed, and baciUi 

 were presicnt in the blood and exudations of these animals. They 



