302 BACTERIOLOGY. 



amounts of cultures of the typhoid bacillus proved fatal 

 in from twelve to thirty-six hours. Autopsies upon 

 these animals revealed the presence of hemorrhagic 

 enteritis, hypertrophy of Peyer's patches, and enlarge- 

 ment of the spleen. The bacilli were found in the 

 blood, liver, and spleen. 



The importance of these observations in their bearing 

 upon the etiology of typhoid fever, if they are demon- 

 strated by subsequent experiment to be trustworthy, is 

 too obvious to necessitate emphasis, and it is greatly to 

 be desired that they may not be permitted to pass 

 unnoticed, but that others interested may find occasion 

 to institute experiments in the same direction with the 

 hope that some liglit may be shed upon the mooted 

 question concerning the influence of gaseous products 

 of decomposition upon the health of individuals, and 

 particularly upon the part played by them in dimin- 

 ishing natural resistance to infection. 



Because of the variations in the morphology and cul- 

 tural peculiarities of this organism, and because of the 

 difficulty experienced in effiarts to reproduce in lower 

 animals the conditions found in the human subject, 

 typhoid fever is bacteriologically one of the most un- 

 satisfactory of the infectious diseases. 



There are a number of other organisms which botani- 

 cally appear to be so closely related to the typhoid bacil- 

 lus, and which, with our present methods for studying 

 them, so closely simulate it that the difficulty of identify- 

 ing this organism sometimes is very great. In addition 

 to this, the variability constantly seen in pure cultures 

 of the typhoid bacillus itself in no way renders the 

 task more simple. 



For example, the morphology of the typhoid bacillus 



