20 FREDERICK EBERSON 



seen at a glance. Before any systematic classification is attempted 

 many more strains must be isolated from lymph glands and tissues. A 

 few new strains will be described here, however. 



The diphtheroids which were isolated from tonsils, of which 224 were 

 studied, varied in morphology from very small rods to large club-shaped forms. 

 They were all gram-positive, nonmotile, nonacid fast, nonspore forming, aerobic, 

 and failed to produce gas in carbohydrate mediums. Four were hemoglobino- 

 philic. A few of those strains possessed hemolytic properties. One produced 

 an orange pigment when grown on ascitic dextrose agar slants. This property 

 was observed on ordinary agar as well. Diphtheroids with orange pigment 

 had not been described in the literature at this time, and it is suggested that 

 this organism be called C. aurantiacum. A similar species was obtained from 

 a Hodgkin's gland. The pigment production was studied from the standpoint 

 of oxygen and temperature requirements. At room temperature (18-25 C.) 

 under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, pigment was produced abundantly in 

 from 24-48 hours. At 37 C. under aerobic conditions, the orange color was 

 abundant in the same interval of time, whereas under anaerobic conditions, 

 a very slight coloration was observed after 10-14 days. The organism is 

 gram-positive, nonmotile, does not form spores, is not acid fast and is faculta- 

 tive. On ascitic dextrose agar, it grows abundantly with an orange tinge after 

 24 hours. It is a small bacterium, coccoid in appearance. No polar bodies or 

 granules seen when stained with the Neisser stain! It grows well in dextrose, 

 lactose, saccharose, maltose, mannite, dextrin and raffinose broth and produces 

 acid in dextrose and maltose. At room temperature abundant growth takes 

 place. Gelatin is not liquefied. 



Hemolysis of rabbit corpuscles by diphtheroids is not usually attributed to 

 any but the true Klebs-Loeffler bacterium from severe cases (Schwoner). The 

 organisms isolated from the tonsils were in all cases but one, culturally unlike 

 the diphtheria organism and in this one instance proved to be an avirulent 

 diphtheroid, for which the name C. pseudodiphtheriae sp. nov. is proposed. 

 This organism grows on plain agar, is morphologically like the Klebs-Loeffler 

 bacillus. It shows no growth anaerobically after 7 days and is apparently 

 strictly aerobic. Some of the strains from tonsils required blood for growth 

 and died off rapidly unless transferred frequently. These organisms resembled 

 B. influenzae and were hemoglobinophilic. 



Three strains were found which fermented dextrose, saccharose, and maltose 

 vigorously and formed slight acid in dextrin. Raffinose remained neutral or 

 faintly alkaline. These diphtheroids were isolated from glands in patients 

 with Hodgkin's disease. In sugar broths, growth was abundant with even 

 clouding. At room temperature, on ascitic agar abundant growth occurs. At 

 37 C. on the same medium growth is abundant with a heavy creamy consistency 

 and brownish tinge. The organisms, small, ovoid or coccoid, stain readily with 

 anilin dyes, are gram-positive, facultative, nonmotile, do not form spores, are 

 not acid-fast. On rabbit blood-agar plates, brown pigment is formed along the 

 streak growths. On Loeffler's serum, abundant white, glistening growth takes 

 place. One strain, on first isolation, from the gland on blood plates, exhibited 

 a remarkable likeness to B. tuberculosis in character of growth. The colonies 

 were dry and heaped up and friable. This peculiar property did not persist in 

 later transplants. Antiformin treatment showed these diphtheroids to be non- 

 resistant. The name C. glandulae sp. nov. is suggested for this species. 



