38 
THOMPSON YATES LABORATORIES REPORT 
It is noteworthy that in the samples of grains a higher proportion of extremely 
virulent cultures were obtained than were got from the samples of milk and from other 
samples examined in the laboratory ; indeed, to obtain a culture of virulent B. 
enteritidis it is only necessary to drop a few grains of barley or a little bran into a 
milk tube, and, after heating it for 20 minutes at 80° C, to incubate it at 37° C. 
anaerobically. The milk tube will probably be found to have undergone the typical 
change and to be virulent if inoculated. 
Considering the frequency of its presence in the spore state on grains and seeds 
and its virulence when injected into Guinea-pigs, it seems certain that the B. enteritidis 
got there as spores and from a habitation where it preserved its virulence to a high 
degree. 
Dust from the soil seems to be the most probable infecting agent for the grains 
and for most of the samples of milk ; and here it may be mentioned that Klein found 
the microbe in soil and in horse manure, but not in cow manure, which may possibly 
be accounted for by the fact that horses are generally fed on grains, while cows 
seldom are. 
Seeing that B. enteritidis sporogenes is even more widely distributed than has 
hitherto been shown and on innocent substances, two questions arise — 
1 . Should its presence be taken as indicating anything more than contamination 
by dust ? and 
1. Is it, after all, the causal agent of some forms of diarrhoea ? 
The presence of the germ in the intestinal canal may easily be accounted for 
both in unhealthy and healthy conditions. I am kindly allowed by Dr. Glynn, who 
is working in this laboratory, to mention that he has recently found the germ in normal 
fasces as well as in cases of diarrhoea, and cultivations from the former were at least 
equally virulent. 
The fact of its being virulent when injected beneath the skin of Guinea-pigs 
does not show that it would be pathogenic if taken by the mouth. I have fed Guinea- 
pigs with milk cultures, and with bran known to contain the germ capable of giving 
milk cultures virulent when injected, without any result. 
