Blood and the identification of bacterial species / by A.S. Grünbaum.

  • Grünbaum, Albert Sidney.
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Blood and the identification of bacterial species / by A.S. Grünbaum. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    BLOOD AND THE IDENTIFICATION OF HE identification of any particular bacillus may be either a very easy or a very difficult matter. The detection of tubercle bacilli in sputum can be pretty safely entrusted to any conscientious medical student who has done his course of practical pathology : the determination of typhoid bacilli in the excreta of a patient may require all the resources of an experienced bacteriologist. During the last two years, however, the development and proper understanding of previous isolated or misinterpreted obser- vations has given us a new and generally trustworthy method of recognising many species of micro-organisms. And more than this, by a simple reversal of the procedure it has been possible to supply a new means and aid to clinical diagnosis—another addition to practical medicine derived from experimental science. So for back as 1889 Charrin and Roger (3) demon- strated that the growth of B. pyocyaneus (and of other bateria) differed when made in the serum of animals im- munised against B. pyocyaneus and when made in the serum of normal animals. The differences consisted in (i.) serum remaining more transparent, (ii.) formation of granu- lar agglomerations and (iii.) microscopically, the formation of chains of altered bacteria, in the former mode of cultiva- tion. In 1891, Metschnikoff, whilst investigating Vibrio Metscknikovi, saw the same phenomena, and noted them as facts requiring further investigation (10). But he made no progress in this direction, being discouraged by failure to obtain the reactions with the bacillus of hog cholera. In 1893 Issaeff made similar observations with Pneu- mococci, and later in conjunction with Ivanoff, with Vibrio Ivanovi. They attributed the effects obtained to the bactericidal and growth-hindering substances in the serum (8).
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