552 PATHOGENIC AEROBIC BACILLI 
PROTEUS OF KARLINSKI. 
_. Synonym.—Bacillus murisepticus pleomorphus (Karlinski). Probably 
identical with Proteus vulgaris of Hauser. 
Obtained by Karlinski (1889) from a fibro-purulent uterine discharge, and 
from abscesses in the uterus and its appendages in a puerperal woman. 
Morphology.—Resembles Proteus vulgaris of Hauser in its morphology, 
and presents various forms under ditferent circumstances relating to the 
culture medium, the temperature, age of culture, etc.—sometimes as spheri- 
cal or short oval cells, at others as longer or shorter-rods or spiral filaments; 
usually as bacilli with round ends two anda half times as long as thick, 
often united in pairs. 
Stains with the usual aniline colors, but not by Gram’s method. 
Biological Characters.—An aérobic and facultative anaérobic, liquefy- 
ing, motile bacillus. Spore formation not observed. Grows rapidly in the 
usual culture media at the room temperature. In gelatin plate cultures, at 
the end of ten hours, small colonies are developed which have well-defined 
outlines, are oval or whetstone-shaped, of a light-brown color by transmitted 
light and white by reflected light, with a somewhat darker margin and a 
smooth surface, sometimes marked by shallow clefts; at the end of twenty 
hours the colonies commence to have irregular margins, and the surface of 
the gelatin above them is marked by concentric rings. At the end of thirty 
hours the colonies have formed a bulb-shaped liquefaction of the gelatin, 
and delicate, ray-like offshoots are seen around the margin. At the end of 
two days the built ous cavities are about one and a half millimetres in diameter 
and contain a cloudy, grayish-white liquid; they are surrounded by a moist- 
looking, gray, irregular marginal zone. In gelatin stab cultures, at the end 
of twenty-four hours, a funnel-shaped.liquefaction of the gelatin occurs near 
the surface, and a grayish-white, cloudy mass is developed along the line of 
puncture; at the end of forty-eight hours a sac-like pouch of liquefied gela- 
tin has formed, and in the course of four or five days the gelatin is entirely 
liquefied. Upon agar plates the colonies are at first oval in form and white 
by reflected light, or pale brown by transmitted light ; at the end of thirty 
hours the surface becomes wrinkled or folded and is surrounded by radiat- 
ing, delicately twisted offshoots. Upon the surface of agar a white layer 
is developed. Upon potato a whitish-gray, soft, homogeneous layer, which 
after standing along time hasa darker color. Upon blood serum a thin, 
grayish-white layer is formed and the serum is rapidly liquefied. Gelatin 
cultures acquire a strongly alkaline reaction and give off a disagreeable 
odor resembling that of butyric acid. 
Pathogenesis.—White mice inoculated at the root of the tail die in from 
twenty-two to twenty-four hours ; the spleen is greatly enlarged; the bacilli 
are found in blood from the various organs—less numerous in blood from 
the heart. Field mice and house mice are less susceptible. Subcutaneous 
injections in rabbits may give rise to local inflammation and also to general 
infection. In white rats and guinea-pigs a local abscess may result from a 
subcutaneous inoculation, 
PROTEUS MIRABILIS. 
Obtained by Hauser (1885) from putrefying animal substances. 
Morphology.—Bacilli resembling very closely the preceding species (Pro- 
teus vulgaris), but presenting more numerous involution forms, which may 
be spherical, pear-shaped, or spermatozoa-like, etc. The bacilli are about 
0.6 « in diameter and vary greatly in length, being sometimes nearly spheri- 
cal, or forming rods of 2 to 8.75 w in length, or long filaments. 
Biological Characters.—An aérobic and facultative anaérobic, liquefy- 
ing, motile bacillus. Spore formation has not been observed. Grows in the 
usual culture media at the room temperature. Does not liquefy gelatin as 
