ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF BACILLUS 
ENTERITIDIS SPOROGENES 
By C. BALFOUR STEWART, M.A., M.B. Camb., Assistant Bacteriologist to the 
Liverpool Corporation 
Plate II 
In connection with some fish poisoning cases which occurred in Liverpool last 
September, where death was due to enteritis associated with the presence of Bacillus 
enteritidis sporogenes of Klein, I had occasion to examine samples of fish procured 
from the same stores that supplied the fish which was incriminated in these cases, and 
from that I was led to examine other substances with a view to discover, if possible, 
the source from which the germ is distributed in nature. 
That the germ occurs very widely spread has been observed by its discoverer, 
Klein, and others ; but so far it has been looked for and found chiefly in what may be 
called pathogenic substances, as diarrhoeal stools, horse dung, sewage, etc., and in 
milk, where its presence was taken as denoting contamination. 
The object of this paper is to draw attention to the fact that Klein's Bacillus 
enteritidis sporogenes occurs very widely distributed in quite innocent substances. 
Any remarks I may have to make on the cultural characteristics of the bacillus will be 
reserved for a future occasion ; but I may here mention that I have found it by no 
means so easy to obtain a pure culture of the bacillus on solid media as Klein states in 
his paper in the Local Government Board Report for 1897-8. The reason maybe that, 
from the nature of my samples, there were many other spore-bearing micro-organisms 
present which ran through the milk cultures and appeared on the glucose agar tubes 
inoculated from the milk ; and even, in some cases, appeared in solid media cultures 
inoculated from the exudation of an animal killed by an injection of the milk culture. 
Often no growth at all on solid media was obtained from the exudation of a dead 
animal or from a milk culture, although a milk tube inoculated with the same grew 
and showed the typical reaction. Milk is a particularly good medium for the growth 
of the Bacillus enteritidis ; whereas, as is well known, anaerobes in general do not grow 
well on solid media. It was found, by experiment, that if a milk tube was inoculated 
with B. enteritidis and some other micro-organism, as B. mesentericus, B. cadaveris 
(Klein), B. coli, the tube would show the typical reaction of B. enteritidis sporogenes 
after incubation for 1 8 hours. 
In all these experiments litmus milk tubes were inoculated with a small portion 
of the sample ; in the case of the milk which was done in the ordinary course of 
analysis for the Liverpool Corporation about 10 c.c. was placed in a sterile test tube. 
