282 
The “ Bottle-Bacillus ” 
the skin. The material thus obtained is smeared on the slide. The 
smear is fixed by passing it through a flame, after which it is further 
fixed, and freed from grease, by immersing the slide, in equal parts of 
alcohol and ether, for 5 minutes. The smear may now be stained with 
any aniline dye. In stained specimens the D. M. is found as larger or 
smaller spheroid or ovoid bodies, which very often show a protrusion or 
budding at one end, like yeast cells. These bodies represent flask- 
or bottle-like forms (see Plate XXI, fig. 1). Here and there are found 
bacillary forms of varying length and thickness, filaments, and short 
chains of the above-mentioned round bodies. 
The Cultures. 
For the cultivation of this organism the material obtained in the 
way above described is ground up and emulsified in 0‘5 to l'O c.c. of 
sterile normal saline solution or broth, and then plated out on ordinary 
nutrient agar, or, preferably, on acid agar. The plates are then 
incubated at 37 C. The colonies of D. M. become visible to the naked 
eye in 24 hours as delicate round discs, dull white by reflected light, 
pearl-grey by transmitted light. If examined with a low power, the 
colony appears finely granular, the margin being slightly serrated. As 
the colony grows older, the margin becomes more and more irregular. 
Stained preparations of such a colony show large coccus-like forms, 
partly arranged in short chains, partly in clusters, so that at the first 
glance they might be taken for Staphylococci (see Plate XXI, fig. 2). 
A more careful observation shows, however, some differences. First of 
all the forms are, as a whole, somewhat large for Staphylococci; here 
and there a much smaller cell adheres to a larger one, like a daughter 
to a mother cell. Intermixed with these coccus forms, there are ovoid 
and short bacillary forms, the latter being rarely encountered. Viewed 
in a hanging drop preparation, the organisms are not motile; they 
contain granules, vacuoles, and many have a more polyhedric than 
exactly round form. 
If the same organism be subcultured on an acid medium, for example 
Sabouraud’s, recommended for the cultivation of Bacillus acnes (agar 
15 grms.; peptone 20 grms.; glycerine 20 grms.; distilled water 1 litre; 
glac. acetic acid 5 drops) the growth is far more abundant. A stained 
preparation shows very irregular, but as a whole much larger forms than 
those grown on ordinary agar. The organisms appear as large round 
bodies, some swollen and faintly stained (involution forms ?), others as 
