On the curative effect of carbonic acid gas or other forms of carbon in cholera, for different forms of fever, and other diseases / by C.J. Lewis.

  • Lewis, C. J. (Charles James), 1875-1937.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: On the curative effect of carbonic acid gas or other forms of carbon in cholera, for different forms of fever, and other diseases / by C.J. Lewis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    IX CHOLERA, lioiirs); river water, 6 days (dirty water, 48 hours); textile fabrics, 2-12 ilays according to the inoisteiiiiig used; and on fruits and vegetables, a few ilays. RACTERIOLOGY OF TYPHOID FEVER. The Bacillus Typhosus, the specific organism of typhoid fever, was dis- covered by Eberth in 1881 in the spleen and diseased intestinal glands of typhoid cadavera. Later it was isolated from the same sources and fully described by Gaffky. It also occurs in the dejecta, and occasionally in the urine, of typhoid patients, and in a certain percentage of cases may be present in the blood. It has also been found in post-typhoidal abscesses. The bacillus is a rod with rounded ends, and is provided on all sides with very numerous flagella, which are long, spiral, and slender, and which confer upon the organism a high degree of motility. It moves with a rapid sei’pentine action. It stains with aniline dyes, and is decolorised by Gram’s process. It grows best in the presence of ample oxygen, but, while distinctly aerobic by preference, it is also facultative anaerobic, and it does not form spores. It does not liquefy gelatine nor coagulate milk, though in the latter mecUuui it produces a slight acid reaction. In broth it causes uniform turbidity, and does not rapidly produce indol. In solid media its growth is very slow, and in plate preparations its colonies are irregularly circular in outline and bluish-white in colour. Under the low power of the microscope the colonies present a granular, yellowish-brown appearance. In stab cultures an opaque, greyish-white, finely nodular line of colonies is formed. It produces no gas in gelatine, or even in glucose gelatine, cultures. In addition, it gives a valuable test by agglutination of the bacilli, when a fresh culture is tested with the blood-serum of a typhoid patient (Widal reaction). The viability of the typhoid bacillus is not very great. Its recovery froin admixture with other organisms is extremely difficult, and is seldom possible after a few days’ interval. Thus its isolation from suspected river or well water, or from sewage and heces, is by no means easy. RACTERIOLOGY OF DIPHTHERIA. The Bacillus Diphthcrice, the specific organism of diphtheria, was dis- covered by Klebs in 1888 in the membranous exudation present in (.liphtheritic throats. It was demonstrated specially in tlie deeper portions of tlic false membrane; the outer layers yielded few of these bacilli, though liable to contain stre])tococci, micrococci, and some bacilli of dilTerent kinds. Lolllcr in 1884 succeeded in isolating the R. diphtheriic in pure culture, and proved its possession of pathogenic properties. I'he organism is frequently known, therefore, the Xlebs-Lolller bacillus. It produces a soluble toxin, which wa.s recognised by lioux and Yersin ; and this toxin, apart from the presence of the living organism, was shown by these observers to be capable of ]>rof ucmg death or paralyses when injected into animals. Ihe bacillus is a rod with roundeii ends, and may he either straight or .t-f' vary greatly in size, shape, and ap])earance in ilitlerent conditions of cultivation; indeeil, its ])olyinorphisin is one of the most notable characteristics of this bacillus. Certain portions of the rod, 2