The bacteriological examination of the renal secretion in certain of the zymotic diseases, with subsidiary differential experiments / by C. J. Lewis.

  • Lewis C. J.
Date:
1901
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: The bacteriological examination of the renal secretion in certain of the zymotic diseases, with subsidiary differential experiments / by C. J. Lewis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    (a) No. 2 resembles Gordon’s variety, vi. iv. xiii. 1 among the alkali 1 S ° | producers. (d) Tests used to distinguish B. typhosus and B. coli communis.— Reliance was placed upon—(1) motility ; (2) flagella; (3) gas formation ; (4) coagulation of milk; (5) growth on potato; (6) indol reaction within certain limits; (7) rate of acid production in litmus broth; (8) Widal reaction, agglutination; (9) rate of growth in gelatin plate; (10) growth in semi-solid media. Influence of B. coli communis on B. typhosus in mixed culture.— Numerous experiments showed that the recovery of the B. typhosus from the mixed culture depends on—(a) the vigour of the stock of typhoid organism used ; (b) the time elapsed after inoculation of the B. coli communis ; (c) the method used to separate the organisms. (e) Experiments with medicated media.—The medicants used were phenol, formalin, sp. vin. rectif., and the essences of peppermint, eucalyptus, cloves, and cinnamon, and many experiments were con- ducted with varying proportions of the medicant. The conclusions arrived at were—(a) That 0*05 per cent, phenolated media would be useful in restraining undesirable organisms present in the urine, while allowing any typhoid and coliform bacilli to grow. (b) That formalin was too fatal to typhoid to be used in examining enteric urine, but that O0125 per cent, formalin jelly might aid in deciding whether a particular organism was typhoid or colon, since it is fatal to the former, while allowing the growth of the latter, (c) That the essential oils likewise would be of little use, since, except in the case of eucalyptus, small quantities sufficed to prevent the growth of typhoid, and all of them were less inimical to B. coli communis than to B. typhosus, (d) That cinnamon and cloves were much more powerful than peppermint and eucalyptus in restraining the growth of B. coli communis, (e) That rectified spirit alone does not prevent the growth of either typhoid or colon bacillus unless present in very large proportions, and this is especially the case as regards B. coli communis. (f) Note on indol reaction.—The indol reaction has been much relied upon as a valuable distinction between B. typhosus and B. coli communis. Within certain limits this is still the case, but the reaction is not a fundamental distinction between the organisms. Typical B. coli communis gives the indol reaction in broth culture after incubation for five days or less at 37° C., but there are atypical varieties in which the reaction is delayed for varying periods up to a month, and there are some which do not give it at all. That the typhoid bacillus would ever give the indol reaction in broth was unknown to me, until I happened to apply the test to some old cultures, and found that it did so. On investigation, I found that Chantemesse had previously recorded the same observation, and that Beckham had found that B. typhosus will assume the indol function under special conditions, conditions which also favour the increase of indol production by the {>') » 4 (c) „ 6 (d) „ 8 (e) „ 10 (/) „ 12