Fig. 268.—Sarcinæ.
The original woodcut of these curious parasites is reproduced in [Fig. 268], also in [Plate IX]., No. 7, and which evidently belong to a different species, numbering thirty-nine altogether. Quite recently Mr. G. H. Broadbent, M.R.C.S., Manchester, sent me a supply of these interesting bodies lately discovered by him in an infusion of cow manure. On examining a drop with a power of 1500 diameters they were discovered moving over the field of the microscope with a gyrating motion by the aid of flagella projecting from each corner of the pocket. After some days, having attained their full growth of four, eight or sixteen in a pocket, they break up, and recommence the formative process. Sarcinæ are certainly pathogenic in their nature. Cocci in groups, or asso-cocci, are similarly associated. These several forms of spiro-bacteria are enclosed in a transparent cell-wall, and are sometimes described as zooglæa.
Of bacteria the most characteristic groups are bacillus, bacterium, and a species of clostridium, a bottle-shaped bacillus. It is, however, difficult to draw a sharp line between so-called species.
Spiro-bacteria, or spirilla, possess short or long filaments, rigid or flexible, and their movements are accordingly rotatory, or in the long axis of the filaments. These bodies are again divided into comma bacilli, or vibrios—a name invented by the older microscopists who first described them—some species of which have a flagellate appendage, to which their movements are due.
Anthrax, Splenic Fever, has been long known to be prevalent among cattle at certain seasons of the year, and is believed to originate from peculiar conditions of climate and soil. This view of splenic fever on microscopical examination proved an entire fallacy. Bollinger in 1872 discovered that the blood of the affected animal was still virulent after death, owing to the presence of the spores of the bacillus, and that the soil also became infected and impregnated by the disease germs wherever the fever first broke out. In 1877 Dr. Koch made a more careful investigation into the source of the disease, and was able to give a complete demonstration of the life-history of the splenic fever bacillus, and to offer definite proofs of its pathogenic properties. He pointed out that the rods grew in the blood and tissues by lengthening and by cross division. Further, that they not only grew into long leptothrix filaments but they produced enormous numbers of seeds or spores. He watched the fusion of the rods to the formation of spores and the sprouting of fresh rods. He furthermore inoculated a mouse, watched the effect through several generations, and fully demonstrated that in the blood and swollen spleen of the animal the same rods were always present. Pasteur and Paul Bret pursued the same course of investigations, which were always followed with precisely similar results. It was, however, principally due to the researches of Koch that the doctrine of contagium vivum was placed on a scientific basis.
Subsequently Koch formulated methods of cultivation, and dictated the microscopical apparatus needful. Furthermore, he furnished postulates for proving beyond doubt the existence of specific pathogenic micro-organisms.
“The chain of evidence regarded by Dr. Koch as essential for proving the existence of a pathogenic organism is as follows:—1. The micro-organism must be found in the blood, lymph, or diseased tissue of man or animal suffering from, or dead of the disease. 2. The micro-organism must be isolated from the blood or tissue, and cultivated in suitable media—i.e., outside the animal body. These pure cultivations must be carried on through successive generations of the organism. 3. Pure cultivation thus obtained must, when introduced into the body of a healthy animal, produce the disease in question. 4. In the inoculated animal the same micro-organism must again be found. The chain of evidence will be still more complete if, from artificial culture, a chemical substance is obtained capable of producing the disease quite independently of the living organism. It is not enough to merely detect, or even artificially cultivate, a bacterium associated with disease. An endeavour must be made to establish the exact relationship of the bacteria to disease processes. In many instances disease bacteria regarded as the actual contagia have been found, on a further searching inquiry, to be entirely misleading. It is almost needless to remind the enthusiast that the actual contagion of the disease must be fully demonstrated.”
Fig. 269.—Micro-Photograph of Typhoid Fever Bacteria. Magnified 1000 ×. Taken by Leitz’s oil immersion 1⁄12-inch ocular No. 4, and sunlight exposure of one minute.