542 BACTERIOLOGY. 
attack of cholera morbus. From the vomited material 
and the stools he obtained a pure culture of the pro- 
teus; but the blood, collected at the autopsy, was sterile. 
In the meantime seventeen other persons who had eaten 
at the same restaurant were taken sick in the same 
way. Upon examination at the restaurant it was found 
that the bottom of the ice-chest in which the meat was 
kept was covered with a slimy, brown layer, which 
gave off a disagreeable odor. Cultures from this gave 
the proteus as the principal organism present. Injec- 
tions into animals of the pure cultures produced similar 
symptoms as occurred in the human subjects. Levy 
concludes that in so-called ‘‘ flesh-poisoning’’ bacteria 
of this group are chiefly concerned, and that the patho- 
genic effects are due to toxic products evolved during 
their development. 
Booker, from his extended researches into this sub- 
ject, concludes that the proteus plays an important part 
in the production of the morbid symptoms which char- 
acterize cholera infantum. Proteus vulgaris was found 
in the alvine discharge iu a large proportion of the cases 
examined by him, but was not found in the feces of 
healthy infants. ‘‘ The prominent symptoms in the 
cases of cholera infantum in which the proteus bacteria 
were found were drowsiness, stupor, emaciation, and 
great reduction in flesh, more or less collapse, frequent 
vomiting and purging, with watery and generally offen- 
sive stools.”” 
Next to the bacillus coli communis the proteus vul- 
garis appears to be the micro-organism most frequently 
concerned in the etiology of pyelonephritis. In cases 
of cystitis and of pyelonephritis this bacillus is often 
found in pure cultures or associated with other bac- 
teria. It probably gets into the bladder chiefly through 
