BACILLI OF THE COLON. 
61 
The typhoid bacillus is both a saprophyte and a 
parasite. As a saprophyte it is widely distributed in 
nature, due to its ability to adapt itself to its environ¬ 
ment. It will live in water, ice, sewage, milk, dust, 
air, and soil. In Surface-water typhoid bacilli will 
live about a week, being rapidly overgrown by other 
bacteria, but in distilled water they will live for three 
months. Freezing will kill most of them in a few 
days. Experiments made by placing typhoid bacilli 
Fig. 7.—Typhoid bacilli showing flagella. X 1100 
times. (After Loffler.) 
in ice prove that nearly all are killed in a week, but 
occasionally they live for three months. The bacillus 
will retain life for six months in the upper layers of 
the soil. 
Within the body they can resist the action of the 
gastric juice and multiply in the small intestine, where 
the greatest amount of damage is done. During the 
disease the typhoid bacilli may be found in the cir¬ 
culating blood, spleen, mesenteric lymphatic glands, 
rose-spots, and occasionally in the sputum and 
vomitus. Typhoid fever therefore should be con¬ 
sidered not as a local infection of the intestine, but as 
a general infection with the organisms present in many 
