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Dr. E. Klein. On the 



[Feb. 5, 



Our investigations enable us to say this : 



1. Koch's statement as to the almost constant occurrence of comma 

 bacilli in the rice-water stools of cholera patients is correct; the 

 comma bacilli vary greatly in numbers in different stools and 

 in different cases, in some being exceedingly scarce, in others 

 iiumerous. 



2. These comma bacilli vary greatly in length, some being twice 

 and three times as long as others, some well curved as much as to 

 form half a circle, others showing only just a slight bend. The name 

 comma bacillus is inappropriate, as in reality they are vibrios. 



3. The comma bacilli occur in the mucus flakes of the rice-water 

 stools as well as in those taken from the ileum of a person dead of 

 cholera. The sooner after death the examination is made, the fewer 

 comma bacilli are found in the mucus flakes ; in several typical rapidly 

 fatal cases the mucus flakes taken from the ileum and examined soon 

 after death (from between fourteen minutes and an hour or an hour 

 and a half) contained the comma bacilli only very sparingly indeed, and 

 not to the exclusion of other bacteria. Our investigations do not 

 bear out Koch's statement as to the lower part of the ileum being in 

 acute typical cases of cholera almost " a pure cultivation of comma 

 bacilli." In not one of the many post-mortem examinations of typical 

 acute cases have we found such a state. 



4. The mucous membrane of the ileum of typical rapidly fatal 

 cases, if examined soon after death, does not contain in any part any 

 trace of a comma bacillus or any other bacteria, not even in the 

 superficial loosened epithelium. 



If the post-mortem examination is sufficiently delayed, comma 

 bacilli and other bacteria may be found penetrating into the spaces 

 of the mucous membrane. 



The theory of Koch's as to the comma bacilli present in the mucous 

 membrane secreting a chemical poison inducing the disease cannot, 

 therefore, be correct. 



5. Neither the blood nor any other tissue contains comma bacilli or 

 any other micro-organisms of known character. 



6. The behaviour of the comma bacilli in artificial media is not 

 such as to justify their being considered as specific. They grow well 

 in alkaline and neutral media, are not killed by acids, and their mode 

 of growth in gelatine mixtures, however peculiar, is not more peculiar 

 than that of other putrefactive bacteria ; they show marked differences 

 when grown in different media, but not more so than the ordinary 

 putrefactive bacteria when compared in their growth with one 

 another. The manner in which the choleraic comma bacilli grow in 

 gelatine is identical with that shown by the comma bacilli of the 

 mouth of healthy persons (Lewis) in that same medium. 



7. Koch overlooked that "comma bacilli" occur in other intestinal 



