284 TUBEECULOSIS 



bacilli hav<j been discovered. Such bacilli have a comparatively 

 wide distribution in nature, as they have been obtained from 

 various species of grass, from butter and milk, from manure, 

 and from the surfaces of animal bodies. Microscopically, they 

 agree more or less closely with tubercle bacilli, though most of 

 them are shorter and plumper ; many of them show filamentous 

 and branching forms under certain conditions of culture. More- 

 over, on injection, they produce granulation tissue nodules which 

 may resemble tubercles, although on the whole there is a 

 greater tendency to softening and suppuration, and usually the 

 lesions are localised to the site of inoculation. The most im- 

 portant point of distinc- 



j -^ tion is the fact that their 



multiplication on arti- 

 ficial media is much more 

 rapid, growth usually 



y*. 



#&£y~ 





1 ■__- ^~v> *» \ lOijJiU, glUWUlA LLOI.ia.lJl J 



{ Tfv»l ., ' ^ ' \ being visible within forty- 



eight hours and often 

 within twenty-four hours 



to 'V .A 



i . .. " i \.Ji^ ft "_., . at 37° C. Furthermore, 



\ jj | ' f . gg / in most instances growth 



\ '<*/i~, \ * V / occurs at the room tem- 



\ fc i ' * J perature. The general 



\_ fc V: \ ' \ I . y character of the cultures 



'* -,—^'S*, * *&" in this group is a some- 



'' -.fl *s - ^' what irregular layer, 



"~-*-- -— " often with wrinkled sur- 



Fig. 81.— Moeller's Timothy-grass bacillus, face, dry or moist in 



From a culture on agar. appearance, and varying 



Stained with carbol-fuchsin, and treated with ■ + - f f„_„, ,„i,;t„ t„ 



20 per cent, sulphuric acid. lu tlnt llom . ^ , 



xlOOO. yellow or reddish brown. 



The number of such or- 

 ganisms is constantly being added to, but the following may 

 be mentioned as examples :— 



Moeller's Grass Bacilli I. and II. —The former was found in infusions 

 of Timothy-grass (Phleum pratense). It is extremely acid-fast, morpho- 

 logically resembles the tubercle bacillus, and in cultures may show club- 

 formation and branching. The local lesions produced may somewhat re- 

 semble tubercles. The colonies, visible in thirty-six hours, are scale-like 

 and of greyish-white colour (Fig. 82, a). Moeller's bacillus II. was 

 obtained from the dust of a hay-loft. The colonies at first are moist and 

 somewhat tenacious, but afterwards run together, and are of a dull 

 yellowish colour. The general results of inoculation resemble those of 

 grass bacillus I., but are less marked. Moeller also obtained a similar 

 organism from milk. He also discovered a third acid-fast bacillus, which 



