The Tetragonococcus or Tetracoccus Versatilis 

 and Yellow Fever D 



Read at the Real Academia de Ciencias de la Habana, 2) August 25, 1895 



Mr President and Gentlemen, — The "Micrococcus tetragenus versati- 

 lis" of Dr. Sternberg is, as you are aware, the same as the one which Dr. 

 Delgado and I denominated "M. tetragenus febris flava? " when we 

 discovered it in 1886-87 in our cultures from the blood, blister scrum, and 

 secretions of yellow fever patients, as well as in those from the heads and 

 proboscis of mosquitoes which had been made to sting such patients. At the 

 risk of having it said that the versatility of our microbe reveals itself even 

 in the variety of its names, I propose that it be given that of 

 "Tetragonococcus," or simply "Tetracoccus versatilis," not only for the 

 sake of brevity, but also because, having in my recent experiments proved 

 its pathogenicity, I consider that its new name harmonizes better with 

 those of other known pathogenic microbes, such as the staphylococci, 

 streptococci, and diplocoeci. 



The following is the description of the tetracoccus given by Dr. 

 Sternberg, under the name of M. tetragenus versatilis (Report on the 

 Etiology and Prevention of Yellow Fever, p. 165, Washington, 1890) : — 

 "The characteristic mode of grouping is shown in Fig. 3, PI. III. Some 

 bacteriologists would, perhaps, be disposed to place it among the sarciua?, 

 but I have never observed any evidence of division in a third plane, 

 forming packets of eight or more elements, such as are characteristic of 

 this genus. I have called it "versatilis", because it is very versatile both 

 in the grouping of the elements and in their dimensions. In the same 

 culture very wide differences in size are observed, and at different 

 times and in different media these variations are very noticeable. The 

 grouping also varies greatly ; sometimes the greater number of the elements 

 are arranged in tetrads, or in pairs, in which the large oval elements are 

 upon the point of dividing transversely to the line by which the binary 



1) Reprinted from the Edinburgh Medical Journal for December 1895. 



2) This paper and the preceeding ones, in Spanish (see p. 171 and 289) are publis- 

 hed in this book as evidence of the tenacity with which Dr. Finlay mantained his opinions. 

 In the long lapse of time between these publications Dr. Finlay published a long series 

 of them on the same subject, most of them of experimental character. 



It is interesting to note how he always linked these colateral studies with his 

 fundamental theory. (Note of the Commission). 



