Microbic Diseases Individually Considered. 151 



mj'ces, the bacillus of cattle farcy, the bacillus of 

 chicken cholera in the guinea pig, the bacillus of 

 typhoid fever, etc. These bacteria, incidentally pyo- 

 genic, have been qualified as yyocolic ; they act by 

 themselves or by preparing the field for the pyogenic 

 germs properly so called. It may be further stated, 

 in this connection, that the mere contact of pyogenic 

 microbes with a wound or living tissue is not invari- 

 ably followed by suppuration. Here, the number of 

 microbes as well as the resistance of the tissue or of 

 the organism to which the latter belongs, all enter 

 into the question. It is a matter of common obser- 

 vation that even a simple wound in some individuals, 

 if left to itself, will always come to suppuration. The 

 adjuvant action of traumatisms, irritant liquids, and 

 individual predisposition has, here, an important 

 bearing, modifying the resistance of the tissues toward 

 pyogenic germs. 



The action of pyogenic germs can be experiment- 

 ally aided by the injection of their culture products. 

 Thus, the filtered cultures of the staphylococcus and 

 streptococcus pyogenes contain adjuvant substances 

 and vaccinatinor substances. The first are the most 

 active and alone show their efl'ects when these filtered 

 cultures are injected; but they are destroyed by 

 twenty-four hours exposure to 55° in the case of the 

 staphylococcus, and to 110° for the streptococcus, and 

 the injection of cultures thus heated confers immunity. 

 According to Courmont and Dor, the adjuvant action 

 of filtered cultures of the streptococcus endures for 

 at least three months. 



Blue pus — Pus, in the human being, occasionally 

 exhibits a peculiar blue color; this is the result of a 



