CHOLERA: GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 327 



similar constitutional effects may be produced in guinea- 

 pigs by the intra -peritoneal injection of relatively large 

 numbers of this organism. His plan is to scrape 

 from the surface of a fresh culture on agar-agar as 

 much of the growth as can be held upon a moderate 

 sized wire loop. This is then finely divided in 1 c.c. 

 of bouillon and, by means of a hypodermatic syringe, 

 is injected directly into the peritoneal cavity. When 

 virulent cultures have been used this is quickly followed 

 by a fall in the temperature of the animal ; this is 

 gradual and continuous until death ensues, which is 

 usually in from eighteen to twenty-four hours after the 

 operation, though exceptionally cases do occur in which 

 the animal recovers, even after having exhibited marked 

 symptoms of most profound toxaemia. 



Gener'al considerations. In all cases of Asiatic cholera, 

 and only in this disease, the organism just described can 

 be detected in the intestinal evacuations. The more 

 acute the case- and the more promptly the examination 

 is made after the evacuations have been passed from the 

 patient, the less will be the difficulty experienced in 

 detecting the organism. 



In some cases it can be detected in the vomited 

 matters, though by no means so constantly as in the 

 intestinal contents. 



As a rule, bacteriological examination fails to reveal 

 the presence of the organisms in the blood and internal 

 organs in this disease, though Nicati and Rietsch claim 

 to have obtained them from the common bile-duct in 

 rapidly fatal cases, and in two out of five cases they 

 were present in the gall-bladder. Doyen and Rasst- 

 schewsky' found them in the liver in pure cultures, 



> Reference to Vratch, 1885, in Allg. Mefl. Central. Zeltung, Berlin. 



