THE BACILLUS OF MALIGNANT (EDEMA. 357 



organs, only the spleen shows much change. It is 

 large, dark in color, and contains numerous bacilli. If 

 the autopsy is made immediately after death, bacilli are 

 not commonly found in the blood of the heart, but if 

 deferred for several hours the organisms will be found 

 in this locality also, a fact that speaks for their multi- 

 plication in the body after death. At the moment of 

 death they are present in all the internal viscera and on 

 the serous surfaces of the organs. 



Mice are probably most susceptible to the action of 

 this organism, and it is not rare to find the organisms 

 in the heart's blood, even immediately after death. 

 They die, as a result of these inoculations, in from six- 

 teen to twenty hours. 



Where pure cultures are used for inoculation a 

 relatively large amount must be employed, and it 

 should be introduced into a deep pocket in the subcu- 

 taneous tissues some distance from the surface. In 

 continuing the inoculations from animal to animal 

 small portions of organs or a few drops of the oedema- 

 fluid should be used. The inoculation may also be 

 successfully made by introducing into a pocket in the 

 skin bits of sterilized thread or paper upon which 

 cultures have been dried. 



The methods for obtaining the organism in pure 

 culture, from the cadaver of an animal dead from in- 

 oculation, are in all essential respects the same as those 

 given for obtaining cultures from tissues in general, 

 but it must be remembered that the organism is a strict 

 anaerobe and will not grow under the influence of oxy- 

 gen (see methods of cultivating anaerobic species). 



In some respects this bacillus suggests the hadllus 

 anthraeis, but differs from it in so many important 



