ESSAYS ON BACTERIOLOGY. 17 



To illustrate the diiHculties in this matter: It was 

 at first f oimd that feeding with cultures of the commii 

 bacillus of cholera would not injure animals. The 

 result was^ great doubt and even ridicule thrown upon 

 it. Some skeptics CA^en offered to swallow any quan- 

 tity themselves. These facts are fresh in the minds 

 of all. But the comma bacillus flourishes in an alka- 

 line medium, and, following up this indication, it 

 was f oimd that inoculation directly into the duodenum 

 gave very .pronounced results. Finally, after wash- 

 ing the stomach, injecting a sterile alkaline solution, 

 lessening peristalsis by opium, and then feeding or in- 

 jecting through a tube, the comma bacilli show them- 

 selves any thing but the harmless beings once sup- 

 posed. 



It is well known that an organism has been identi- 

 fied in connection with typhoid fever and is generally 

 supposed to be the cause of that disease. But it is 

 still uncertain. Koch himself has recently, I believe, 

 taken this position, that while the Koch-Eberth bacil- 

 lus is probably the specific germ, the final demonstra- 

 tion has not yet been reached. The reason of this 

 uncertainty is the unsatisfactory character of the in- 

 oculation experiments. For it is not yet known 

 whether animals are subject to this disease; they may 

 die from the artificial infection, but it is not certain 

 that a group of symptoms and lesions* can be identified 

 in them, constituting the specific disease typhoid 

 fever. 



