1886.] On the Multiplication of Micro-organisms. 



541 



Comma Spirillum (from vigorous Broth Cultivation) in Deep Well-water, Sewage, 



and Filtered Thymes Water. 



Number of Colonies obtained from 1 c.c. 



No. 1] 



Deep well 



Day of 

 prepara- 

 tion. 



[ 5,750 

 [5,750 



„ 31 : f "1,750 



^Sewage .. < 

 u 4 J [4,750 



„ 51 



vDeep well 

 „ 6j 

 » 7] 



> Sewage . . 

 „ 8 J 



" 9 1 Filtered 



„10j Thames 



456 



456 

 300 



300 



2nd 

 Day. 







(Incub.) 

 



Innum. 

 (Incub.) 

 60,000 



18 

 (Incub.) 



57 

 Innum 



5th 

 Dav. 



6th 

 Day. 







(Incub.) 

 



Innum. 

 (Incub.) 

 Innum. 



1,225 

 (Incub.) 



3,834 

 Innum 



(Incub.) j (Incub.) 

 19.000 Innum. 



188 

 (Incub.) 

 63 







(Incub.) 

 313 







(Incub.) 

 



Innum. 

 (Incub.) 

 Innum. 







(Incub.) 

 480 



9th 

 Day. 



11th 

 Day. 



147 

 (Incub.) 

 1,232 

 Innum. 

 (Incub.) 

 Innum. 

 



(Incub.) 

 173 







(Incub.) 

 



96,000 



(Incub.) 



Innum. 



17th 

 Day. 





 (Incub.) . (Incub. N i 





 128,000 ; 56,000 

 (Incub.) (Incub.) 

 Innum. ! Innum. 



; Thus the comma Spirilla from the vigorous cultivation in broth 

 was found in every case to flourish in sewage ; on the other hand, in 

 deep well-water their vitality was lost in Nos. 1 and 2, whilst in 

 Nos. 5 and 6 they were still demonstrable on the ninth day, having in 

 the interim undergone considerable reduction in the first instance, 

 and then multiplied, although incomparably less than in the sewage 

 experiments. 



The first attenuation (in distilled water) from which. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 

 and 4 above were inoculated was also examined on the ninth day, 

 and 15,650 colonies obtained from the cubic centimetre. Thus, 

 although still alive, the reduction in number must have been very 

 great, as originally this attenuation must have contained npwards of 

 1 million per cubic centimetre. 



Dr. Koch (Second Cholera Conference, May, 1885, " Brit. Med. 

 Journ.," January 9, 1886) mentions that Nicati and Rietsch have 

 demonstrated the vitality of the comma Spirilla in the harbour water 

 of Marseilles after a period of eighty-one days, and that he himself has 

 proved them to be still alive in different kinds of water over periods 

 of time varying from twenty-four hours to thirty days. From my 

 experiments it appears that the behaviour of the Spirillum in different 

 waters is largely dependent upon the source from which they are ob- 

 tained, but that under favourable circumstances a large amount of 

 multiplication may take place when they are introduced into sewage 



