THE BACILLUS OF MALIGNANT (EDEMA. 335 



FlQ. 84. 



f 



cell at the point at which they are located and give to 

 it a more or less oval, spindle, or lozenge shape. (Fig. 

 83, B.) 



It is a strict anaerobe, growing on 

 all the ordinary media, but not under 

 the access of oxygen. It grows well 

 in a hydrogen atmosphere. It causes 

 liquefaction of gelatin. 



In tubes containing about 20 to 30 

 c.c. of gelatin that has been liquefied, 

 inoculated with a small amount of the 

 (iulture, and then rapidl}- solidified in 

 ice-water, growth appears in the form 

 of isolated colonies at or near tlie bot- 

 tom of the tube in from two to three 

 days at 20° C. These colonies, when 

 of from 0.5 to 1 mm. in diameter, ap- 

 pear as little spheres filled with clear 

 liquid, and are difficult, for this reason, 

 to detect. (Fig. 84.) 



As they gradually increase in size 

 the contents of the spheres become 

 cloudy and are marked by fine radi- 

 ating stripes, easily to be detected 

 with the aid of a small hand-lens. In 

 deep-stab cultures in agar-agar and 

 gelatin, development only occurs along 

 the track of puncture at a distance 

 below the surface. Growth is fre- 

 quently accompanied by the produc- 

 tion of gas-bubbles. 



It causes rapid liquefaction of blood-serum with pro- 

 duction of gas-bubbles, and in two or three days the 



Colonies ol the 

 bacillus of malig- 

 nant oedema in deep 

 gelatin culture. (Af- 

 ter Fkankel and 

 Pfeiffeb.) 



