The microscopic organisms found in the blood of man and animals, and their relation to disease / By Timothy Richards Lewis.

  • Lewis, T. R. (Timothy Richards), 1841-1886.
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The microscopic organisms found in the blood of man and animals, and their relation to disease / By Timothy Richards Lewis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

    19/118 (page 9)
    spective of any particular theories, that terms should be adopted which will suffice to distinguish the leading forms. Dujardin suggested three terms for the group: (1) bacterium, (2) vibrio, and (3) spirillum. Notwithstanding the great advance which has been made in our knowledge of these organisms since the date of Dujardin's classification, there still remains very much to be done before anything like a satisfactory settlement of the matter can be accomplished. It will, therefore, perhaps be better for the present to accept these simple terms, especially as, with very trifling modifications, they are sufficient to indicate all the forms which have hitherto been found in the blood. The following brief description will suffice to explain what forms of this group of organisms are comprehended by the terms adopted: 1, Spherical bac- teria—minute, vitalised bodies, barely (fig. 2, A); 2, Elongated bacteria—almost equally minute cylindrical rods (fig. 2, B); 3, Vibriones, short, undulating filaments manifesting somewhat screw-like movements (fig. 2, C); 4s, Bacilli, or Vibrio-bacilli—fine, short filaments, indistinctly jointed, which, when they attain considerable length, are sometimes described as leptothrix filaments (fig. 2, D); 5, Spirilla—fine, more or less flexible, spiral filaments, which manifest well-marked screw-like movements (fig. 2, E). It may be mentioned, in passing, that examples of each of these forms may, commonly, be detected in the muco-salivary fluid from the mouth of healthy persons. The question which naturally suggests itself now is : Under what condition „ are organisms of this character found in the blood ? Conditions under which, fungoid ° organisms are found in the biood. M Pasteur states that the blood in health is abso- lutely free from anything of the kind. His words are : ' Le sang d'un animal en pleine santd ne renferme jamais d'organismes microscopiques ni leurs b - -v/ y> Fig. 2 .... x 600 diam. Various forms of Fission-fungi—Schizomycetes. A. Spherical bacteria (Bacterium punctum). B. Elongated bacteria (Bacterium termo). C. Vibrions. D. Bacilli. E. Spirilla. visible with the highest powers