Identification 387 



Besredka* Flexnerf and others have, however, shown the diplo- 

 coccus of Weichselbaum to be, without doubt, the specific 

 organism. 



Distribution. The distribution of Diplococcus intracellularis 

 in nature is as yet unknown. It has been found in cerebro-spinal 

 meningitis by those who have looked for it, twice has been found 

 in the nose in coryza by Scherer, has been found in the conjunctiva 

 by Carl FrankelJ and Axenfeld, and in the purulent discharges 

 of rhinitis and otitis by Jager.|| 



Morphology. The micro-organism is a biscuit-shaped dip- 

 lococcus having a great resemblance to the gonococcus. This re- 

 semblance is further increased by the fact that the cocci are usually 

 found inclosed in the protoplasm of the leukocytes. Weichselbaum, 



'I 



Fig. 141. Meningococcus in spinal fluid (from Hiss and Zinsser, "Text-Book 

 of Bacteriology," D. Appleton & Co., Publishers). 



by whom this was first observed, found it constant in sections of 

 the brain and its membranes, though in the exudate of the disease 

 a good many free cocci may be observed. It was this peculiar 

 relationship to the cells that led Weichselbaum to name the organ- 

 ism Diplococcus intracellularis. Many of the cocci inclosed in the 

 cells are apparently dead and degenerated, as they stain badly and 

 do not grow when the pus is transferred to culture-media. 



Identification. Carl Frankel, in discussing the micro-organ- 

 ism, points out that its morphologic peculiarities have much in 

 common with the pneumococcus, so that the most refined methods 

 of differentiation should always precede a positive determina- 

 tion. Its resemblance to the gonococcus should also be kept in 

 mind. 



k Perhaps the greatest difficulty obtains in making a certain 

 * "Annales de 1'Inst. Pasteur," 1906, xx, 4. 

 t "Jour. Exp. Med.," 1906-07. 

 : "Zeitschrift fiir Hygiene," June 14, 1899. 

 Lubarsch and Oestertag, "Ergebnisse der allg. Path. u. path. Anat.," in, 



s - 573- 



"Deutsche med. Wochenschrift," 1894, S. 407. 



