424 
EXTRACTS FROM EXCHANGES. 
in the state of “ bacilli ” ; (5) in the state of “ filaments, ” viz., in 
five chief forms or states. 
Lately the author has inoculated guinea pigs with 6-10 drops 
of blood, containing micrococci, cocco-bacteria or zoogloe con¬ 
taining not the slightest trace of bacilli, and has always caused 
general tuberculosis as a result of the inoculations ; furthermore, 
the author has diagnosticated tuberculosis from the mere fact of 
the presence in the blood and spermatic fluid of micrococci or 
zoogloe, which diagnosis has later been confirmed clinically. 
Hence the author asserts the polymorphological character of 
the micro-organism of tuberculosis. 
The varieties of bacteria above-mentioned may occur singly 
or aggregated together. The form of micro-organism seemed to 
the author to depend upon the medium and upon the question 
of the absence or presence of air; for example, cold abscesses re¬ 
moved from the air, showed pure or almost pure zoogloe, 
whereas the sputa always showed pure or almost pure bacilli. 
Author says almost pure bacilli, because the author, like others 
examining many specimens of sputa, found filaments also in 
sputa, ten times as long as bacilli but with the same stain¬ 
ing qualities. In intestinal tuberculosis the author found the 
bacilliary form. One may say that bacilli are present here be¬ 
cause secretions containing bacilli get there by being swallowed ; 
but sections of gut lesions below the surface also contain bacilli. 
In cutaneous or subcutaneous tubercular abscesses, glandular 
swellings, the author found chiefly zoogloe of micrococci, rarely 
bacilli or filaments. 
Staining the Bacteria .—We stain our specimens blood or 
seminal fluid with carbolated fuchsin of Ziehl, keeping them at 
a temperature of 6o° for 2 hours, wash them for a few seconds 
with alcohol, then in water to remove the last trace of alcohol, 
and allow the penetration of 30:100 (preferable to 10:100) nitric 
acid solution, preparations are again washed in distilled water 
and repeat the former until the specimen shows a hardly visible 
light-red color. Then we bathe the specimen in a weak solution 
of methyl blue. By avoiding mixture of the alcohol with the 
acid and by the use of the stronger acid solution the micrococci 
and zoogloe retain their color; these show in brick-red colors, 
whereas bacilli show dark-red. If staphylococci are present they 
show blue-colored. It is impossible to mistake the coccotrix (or 
granular rod) of tuberculosis for a chain of streptococci. By 
this method we have easily found micro-organisms in the blood 
as soon as tubercular disease manifested itself in the testes, in- 
