THE GLANDERS BACILLUS. 277 



suppurative, in the lungs '(attended often with pneumonic con- 

 solidation), in the spleen, liver, bone-marrow, salivary glands, etc. 

 In the chronic form the local lesion results in the formation of an 

 irregular ulcer with thickened margins and sanious, often foul, 

 discharge. The ulceration spreads deeply as well as superficially, 

 and the thickened lymphatics also have a great tendency to 

 ulcerate, though the lymphatic system is not so prominently 

 affected as in the horse. Deposits may form in the subcutane- 

 ous tissue and muscles, and the mucous membrane may become 

 affected. The disease may run a very chronic course, lasting for 

 months, and recovery may occur, though, on the other hand, the 

 disease may take on a more acute character and rapidly become 

 fatal. 



The Glanders Bacillus. — Microscopical Cliaracters. — The 

 glanders bacilli are minute rods, straight or slightly curved, with 

 rounded ends, and about the 

 same length as tubercle bacilli, 

 but distinctly thicker (Fig. 99). 

 They show, however, consider- 

 able variations in size and in 

 appearance, and their proto- 

 plasm is often broken up into • 

 a number of deeply-stained por- 

 tions with unstained intervals 

 between. These characters are 

 seen both in the tissues and in 

 cultures, but, as in the case of 

 many organisms, irregularities ^ r-, j i, -n- .u , 



J ^ JO tIG. 99. — OlandersDacilli amongst broken- 



in form and size are more pro- down cells. Film preparation from a glanders 



1 . 1. /T^- „„\ nodule in a guinea-pig. Stained with weak 



nounced m cultures (Fig. 100) : i, , , k ■ -^ ™ 



^ ^ ' ' carbol-tucnsm. X looo. 



short filamentous forms 8 to 



12 /u. in length are sometimes met with, but these are on the 



whole rare. The organism is non-motile, but brownian motion is 



marked. 



In the tissues, the bacilli usually occur irregularly scattered 

 amongst the cellular elements ; a few may be contained within 

 leucocytes and connective-tissue corpuscles, but the position of 

 most is extracellular. They are most abundant in the acute 

 lesions, in which they may be found in considerable numbers ; 

 but in the chronic nodules, especially when softening has taken 



