252 SPECIFIC MICRO-ORGANISMS 



It should be transplanted every few days and a large quantity 

 of growth must be transferred. When transplanted from vigor- 

 ous cultures to plain agar the gonococcus grows for a few days, 

 but it cannot be successfully propagated for any length of time 

 on ordinary media. 



The gonococcus is very sensitive to drying and to tempera- 

 tures above 40 C. It is usually impossible to recover it from 

 dried pus, but in moist material it may live for i to 24 hours. 

 The organism is easily killed by chemical germicides, of which 

 silver nitrate is probably the most effective. 



Inoculation of animals in the urethra or on the conjuctiva 

 is without result. Intraperitoneal injection of cultures into 

 white mice or guinea-pigs usually kills the animals in 24 hours 

 and the gonococci can be recovered from the peritoneal fluid 

 and the heart's blood. These effects seem to be due to toxins of 

 the injected material rather than actual infection. The specific 

 poisons seem to be intracelluar and set free upon disintegration 

 of the organism. The poison withstands heating to 100 C. for 

 hours. Inoculation of the human urethra with cultures of the 

 gonococcus has been repeatedly done and has resulted nearly al- 

 ways in the production of typical gonorrhea. 



Gonnorrhea has been recognized as a contagious disease 

 since the dawn of history. The most important forms are (i) 

 urethritis with tendency to extension in the female to the cervix 

 uteri, oviducts and peritoneum, and iri the male to the prostate, 

 seminal vesicles, and epididymis, and in both sexes to the blood 

 stream, heart valves and joints; (2) conjunctivitis and keratitis 

 leading to scarring of the cornea and permanent blindness; 

 (3) valvo-vaginitis in girl babies, an exceedingly contagious 

 disease, especially in hospital wards. The disease tends to 

 become chronic and eventually latent, that is, the symptoms 

 subside but the micro-organisms remain alive in certain loca- 

 tions, such as the prostate in the male and the cervix uteri in 

 the female. The acute inflammation may be. followed by scars' 

 resulting in strictures of the urethra or occlusion of the epididy- 



