Indeed, it would be
difficult to distinguish the two if placed side by side. On account of
this developmental change, he doubted if the cholera organism should be
ranked with bacilli; it is rather a transitional form between the bacillus
and the spirillum. Possibly it is a true spirillum, portions of which
appear in the comma shape, much as in other spirilla--_e. g_., spirilla
undula, which do not always form complete spirals, but consist only of
more or less curved rods. The comma bacilli thrive well in meat infusion,
growing in it with great rapidity. By examining, microscopically, a drop
of this broth culture the baccilli are seen in active movement, swarming
at the margins of the drop, interspersed with the spiral threads, which
are also apparently mobile. They grow also in other fluids--_e. g_., very
abundantly in milk, without coagulating it or changing its appearance.
Also in blood serum they grow very richly.
Another good nutrient medium is gelatine, wherein the comma bacilli form
colonies of a perfectly characteristic kind, different from those of any
other form of bacteria. The colony when very young appears as a pale and
small spot, not completely spherical as other bacterial colonies in
gelatine are wont to be, but with a more or less irregular, protruding, or
jagged contour.
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