308 Suppuration 



for an hour at 6oC., and then uses them by subcutaneous injection 

 for producing increased resistance on the part of the patient. (See 

 " Bacterio- vaccination. ") 



The treatment is controlled by studying the " opsonic index" 

 (q.v.), the objects being the avoidance of the "negative phase" or 

 condition of diminished resistance, and the progressive establish- 

 ment of the positive phase or stage of increased resistance. As the 

 resistance increases the patient rapidly improves, and many cases 

 of obstinate acne, furunculosis, and other pyogenic infections have 

 quickly recovered under this treatment. 



STAPHYLOCOCCUS CITREUS (PASSET) 



An organism similar in many respects to the preceding, except 

 that its growth on agar-agar and potato is of a brilliant lemon- 

 yellow color and its pathogenicity for animals doubtful, is Staph- 

 ylococcus citreus of Passet.* As it is not common and is doubtfully 

 pathogenic, it is of much less importance than the previously 

 described organisms. 



STREPTOCOCCUS PYOGENES (ROSENBACH) 



General Characteristics. The streptococcus is a non-motile, non-flagellate, 

 non-sporogenous, non-liquefying, non-chromogenic, aerobic and optionally 

 anaerobic, spheric organism, infectious for man and the lower animals. It 

 stains by ordinary methods and by Gram's method. 



Streptococci were probably first seen by Pasteur and Doleris in 

 the blood of women suffering from puerperal infection, and by 

 Kochf in 1878. In 1881 OgstonJ called attention to the fact that 

 two distinct kinds of cocci were to be found in pus, mentioning both 

 staphylococci and streptococci. The beginning of real knowledge 

 of the streptococci, however, dates from the time of their isolation 

 and cultivation by Fehleisen and of Rosenbach,|| from 18 of 33 

 suppurative lesions, fifteen times alone and five times in association 

 with Staphylococcus aureus. 



Distribution. Streptococci are parasitic pathogenic organisms, 

 not known apart from human and animal hosts. They seem to occur 

 not infrequently, in health, upon the surf ace of the body, in its various 

 openings and in the alimentary canal. Such organisms are to be 

 regarded as potentially virulent and pathogenic in all cases. 



Streptococci have been the subject of extensive systematic 



* " Untersuchungen iiber die Aetiologie der eitrigen Phlegmone des Menschen," 

 Berlin, 1885, p. p. 



t "Untersuchungen iiber die Aetiologie der Wundinfektionskrankheiten," 

 Leipzig, Vogel, 1878. 



t "British Med. Jour.," March, 1881, p. 369. 



"Aetiologie des Erysipels," Berlin, Fischer, 1883. 



|| " Mikroorganismen bei Wundinfektionskrankheiten des Menschen," 1884, 

 p. 22. 



