FINKLER AND PRIOR'S SPIRILLUM 



477 



is, the properties of an anti-cholera serum are not exerted against it. It 

 may also be mentioned that an organism which is apparently the same 

 as the vibrio metchnikovi was cultivated by Pfuhl from water, and named 

 v. nordhafen.. 



Finkler and Prior's Spirillum. — These observers, shortly after Koch's 

 discovery of the cholera organism, separated a spirillum, in a case of 

 cholera nostras, from the stools after 

 they had been allowed to decompose 

 for several days. There is, however, 

 no evidence that the spirillum has 

 any causal relationship to this or any 

 other disease in the human subject. 

 Morphologically it closely resembles 

 Koch's spirillum, and cannot be dis- 

 tinguished from it by its micro- 

 scopical characters, although, on the 

 whole, it tends to be rather thicker 

 in the centre and more pointed at 

 the ends (Fig. 142). In cultures, 

 however, it presents marked differ- 

 ences. In puncture cultures on 



gelatin it grows much more quickly, 



and liquefaction is generally visible 



within twenty - four hours. The 



liquefaction spreads rapidly, and 



usually in forty-eight hours it has 



produced a funnel-shaped tube with 



turbid contents, denser below (Fig. 



141, B). In plate cultures the 



growth of the colonies is proportion- 

 ately rapid. Before they have pro- 

 duced liquefaction around them, they 



appear, unlike those of the cholera 



organism, as minute spheres with 



smooth margins. When liquefac- 

 tion occurs, they appear as little 



spheres with turbid contents, which 



rapidly increase in size ; ultimately 



general liquefaction occurs. On 



potatoes this organism grows well 



at the ordinary temperature, and 



in two or three days has formed a 



slimy layer of greyish-yellow colour, 



which rapidly spreads over " the 



potato. On all the media the growth 



has a distinctly fretid odour. A 



growth in peptone solution fails to give the cholera-red reaction at the 



end of twenty-four hours, though later a faint reaction may appear. 

 An organism cultivated by Miller ( ' ' Miller's Spirillum ") from the cavity 



of a decayed tooth in a human subject is almost certainly the same 



organism as Finkler and Prior's spirillum. 

 Deneke's Spirillum. — This organism was obtained from old cheese, and 



is also known as the spirillum tyrogenum. It closely resembles Koch's 



spirillum in microscopic appearances, though it is rather thinner and 



A B 



Fig. 141. — Puncture cultures in 

 peptone-gelatin. 



Five 



B. 



Metchnikoff's spirillum. 



days' growth. 

 Finkler and Prior's spirillum. 

 Four days' growth. 

 Natural size. 



