500 BACILLI WHICH PRODUCE SEPTICEMIA 
by Davaine (1872), which he induced in the first instance by inject- 
ing putrid ox blood into rabbits, was due to the same pathogenic ba- 
cillus. The writer obtained this bacillus (1887) in Cuba from the 
blood of rabbits inoculated with liver tissue taken from a yellow- 
fever cadaver and kept for forty-eight hours in an antiseptic wrap- 
ping. Thename which we have adopted is that proposed by Hueppe 
for the form of septicemia to which it gives rise—‘‘Septikaémia 
haémorrhagica.” 
Morphology.—Short bacilli with rounded ends, from 0.6 to 0.7 
/ in diameter and about 1.4 4 long; sometimes united in pairs, or 
in chains of three or fourelements. In stained preparations the ex- 
tremities are usually stained, while the central portion of the rod 
remains unstained. This ‘‘ end staining” causes the rods to present 
the appearance of diplococci when examined with a comparatively 
low power, and some of the earlier observers described the microér- 
ganism under consideration as a micrococcus. It is quickly stained 
by the aniline colors usually employed, but loses its color when 
treated by Gram’s method. 
Biological Characters.—A. non-motile, aérobic, non-liquefy- 
ing bacillus. Does notform spores. Grows in various culture media 
at the room temperature, but more rapidly at 35° to 37° C.—the 
lowest temperature at which development occurs is about 13° C. 
Although this is an aérobic bacillus and a certain amount of oxygen 
is necessary for its development, it appears to grow better when the 
amount is somewhat restricted than it does on the surface of nutrient 
media. 
Upon gelatin plates, at the end of two or three days, small, 
white colonies are developed upon or near the surface; these are 
finely granular and spherical, with a more or less irregular outline, 
and by transmitted light have a yellowish color ; later the central 
portion of the colonies is of a yellowish-brown color and is sur- 
rounded by a transparent peripheral zone. The superficial colonies 
are commonly smaller than those which develop a little below the 
surface of the gelatin. In stab cultures in nutrient gelatin the 
growth upon the surface consists of a thin, whitish layer in the 
vicinity of the point of puncture, having an irregular, jagged out- 
line—sometimes there is no development upon the surface; along 
the line of puncture the growth consists of rather transparent, dis- 
crete. or confluent colonies. In streak cultures upon nutrient agar, 
or gelatin, or blood serum the growth ‘is limited to the immediate 
vicinity of the line of inoculation, and consists of finely granular, 
semi-transparent colonies, which form a thin, grayish-white layer 
with irregular, somewhat thickened margins. Upon potato no de- 
velopment occurs, as a rule, at the room temperature, but in the in- 
