Microhic Diseases Indicidaalhj Considered. 275 



opment already well marked at the end of the first 

 day; at this time may be seen a viscid, coherent layer 

 floating near the bottom of the nutrient fluid which 

 is still perfectly limpid, although holding in suspen- 

 sion a few white or yellowish, irregularly shaped 

 grains. In examining these last under the micro- 

 scope, they are found to be composed of ramified 

 filaments, a few of which bear one or more distinct 

 enlargements in every respect similar to the conidia 

 of the cortical zone of the actinomyces. This struc- 

 ture is very evident, the mycelial filaments being yet 

 loosely intermingled. Each of the latter consists of 

 a tube containing, from point to point, a rounded 

 nucleus which has a well marked afiinity for the 

 aniline colors. The bouillon acquires a fetid odor. 



On the following days the pullulation continues 

 with great activity, but the culture changes its ap- 

 pearance after the third day; the slimy growth in the 

 bulbs resolves itself into a cloud of very fine granules 

 which fall to the bottom of the bouillon as if the mu- 

 coid substance which held them suspended had 

 disappeared; at the same time, the two layers of the 

 liquid, up till now clearly defined, spontaneously mix 

 themselves. 



In examining bouillon cultures with the micro- 

 scope, after the third day, the claviform enlargements 

 are no longer to be seeu. The small white granules 

 deposited at the bottom of the bulbs are found to be 

 composed solely of fine filaments, presenting lateral 

 ramifications more abundantly than in the preceding 

 preparations, and showing always in their interior 

 the rounded nuclei, placed at regular intervals; 

 these mycelial tubes are united in felted balls from 



