Bacillus typhosus (typhoid and cholera bacilli).

This film illustrates the movement and agglutination of typhoid (2 mins 30 secs) and then cholera bacilli (2 mins 30 secs). Firstly the bacillus typhosus is shown at several magnifications, followed by a title, Agglutination, with footage illustrating this method (used presumably to form a diagnosis). The title for Cholera Bacillus is more ornate (suggesting that it originated as a separate film) and the descriptive captions more detailed: The cholera microbes here reproduced from cultivations in broth, were derived from cases of cholera at Bombay: The Cholera bacillus in the intestines of the sick, or in a fresh cultivation in broth, moves very freely by the help of a vibratile. This cilium or lash-like process cannot be seen in the picture, because it moves too rapidly and is very fine: When cultivated for a considerable time some bacilli are to be seen much longer than the others and forming more or less complete circles: After some time the microbes show a tendency to clump together finally they cease to move. Probably one of the earliest surviving film records of bacteriological research. Some of the footage could be from the Bombay Plague Laboratory (now the Haffkine Institute). A 35mm negative on nitrate film was donated to the Wellcome Library by the Research Defence Society, although the original provenance of the film and its use are unknown.