BACILLUS ENTERITIDIS 441 



which was killed in consequence of an attack characterised 

 by a mucous diarrhoea, and also from the spleen of a man 

 who died twelve hours after eating the flesh of this animal. 

 It is a short bacillus, about twice as long as broad, fre- 

 quently united in pairs ; chains of four to six elements are 

 sometimes seen. It is aerobic, non-liquefying, and motile. 

 Spore formation not determined. Stains with the usual 

 dyes, and presents the peculiarity of polar staining. 



Cultural characters : 



Gelatine Plates. — Pale-gray, superficial colonies are 

 formed at the end of twenty-four hours ; under low powers 

 these are seen to be coarsely granular and transparent; 

 the central portion usually presents a greenish colour. 



Gelatine Streak. — A thick, grayish-white layer is formed, 

 which after a time becomes much wrinkled. The gelatine 

 is not liquefied. 



Agar Streak. — At the end of from eighteen to twenty 

 hours at blood-heat a grayish-yellow layer is formed. 



Potatoes. — A moist, shining, yellowish-gray layer is 

 developed. 



Pathogenesis. — Mice usually die in from one to three days 

 when fed with a pure culture of this bacillus ; rabbits and 

 guinea-pigs die in from two to five days after subcutaneous 

 injection ; dogs, cats, chickens, and sparrows appear to be 

 immune; a goat died in twenty hours after receiving an 

 intravenous injection of 2 cubic centimetres of a culture 

 in blood serum. The organism gives rise to a severe in- 

 flammation of the intestinal mucous membrane. The 

 bacilli are found in the heart's blood. 



Bacillus Enteritidis Sporogenes (Klein). — As already stated, 

 this organism was discovered to be the cause of an out- 

 break of diarrhoea, and was subsequently discovered by 

 Andrewes in a number of cases of severe diarrhoea. Forma 



