Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The surgery of the head and neck / by Levi Cooper Lane. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.
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![Bacili.is Tuberculosis. The bacillus of tuberculosis was discovered, cultivated, and demonstrated by Koch to be an inseparable accompaniment of tubercular disease; and he proclaimed it in 1882 to be the causal agent of tuberculosis. It does not j)Ossess the ])Ower of motion, it is one of the smallest of tlie microbic organisms, its volume being equal to one-fourth of that of a rod blood-cell. It is rod- shaped, or bacillary in form; and sometimes it is curved in form. They are occasionally found in groups of two, so disposed as to form an acute angle. It thrives well on blood-serum, at a temperature of 100 degrees, Fahrenheit. It can be grown in other media. It has been obtained through culture in branched and club-shaped forms. Bovine tubercle-bacilli are much smaller than the tubercle-bacilli originating in man. Tubercular disease in animals and man arises from this bacterium. Tubercle-bacilli are the causal agents in man of pulmonary tuberculosis, and of tubercular disease, whether seated in the osseous or soft structures of the body. Disease formerly designated scrofula owes its origin to this agent. The tubercle-bacillus is found in tissues the seat of lupus. Koch has ])repared a lymph from tubercular matter, which is known under the name of tuberculin. This lymph, for a time, was believed to be a cure for tuberculosis; this hope has not been realized, yet the experience had with tuberculin has led to the discovery of a derivative from it, known as oxtuberculin, which experience has shown to be a valuable remedy against some forms of tuberculosis. The animal body is infected with tubercular disease through the breathing of air, or use of food, containing the bacilli of tuberculosis. Bacillus of Anthrax. Prior to the era of bacteriology, the causal agent of splenic fever or malignant pustule, now usually named anthrax, was investigated by Davaine, in France. In later years, the knowl- edge of anthrax has been greatly advanced by the researches of Pasteur and Koch. The anthracic bacteria are shaped like rods, which liave broadened ends, and in their dimensions they equal red blood corpuscles. They thrive readily in different culture- media, and ])roduce spores which have great vitality. In animals which have died from anthrax, the blood and abdominal viscera are found infected with bacilli. If tlie elements of the di.sease are inhaled they cause pneumonia. It occurs as a local disease in men whose occupation briuirs them in contact with animals which have died from anthracic disease. The disease](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21215406_0026.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
