45 



do not attack carbohydrates vigorously, and are usually found either in 

 the nonfermenting or in the dextrose-splitting group. 



The diphtheroids associated with Hodgkin's disease have been 

 studied. It has been shown that neither the source nor the cultural 

 characters serve to distinguish the supposed cause of Hodgkin's disease 

 from numerous saprophytic diphtheroids. By means of complement 

 fixation tests the conclusion is reached that the cause of this disease is 

 not the organism described by numerous workers. 



Agglutinin absorption studies indicate more clearly the relationship 

 which exists between certain members of the diphtheroid group of bac- 

 teria. The results are correlated in the main with complement fixation. 



Diphtheroids conform to the fundamental laws of bacteriology and 

 are not readily transformed into cocci and back again. Two distinct 

 biotypes have been isolated from a culture of C. enzymicus. 



The coccus associated with a bacillary diphtheroid (C. enzymicus) 

 is antigenically distinct from the bacillus and vice versa. Under cer- 

 tain conditions a bacillary strain may be made to assume a diplococcus 

 picture, but absorption experiments show that the organisms are not 

 cocci. 



Certain mediums and cultural technic have been found to exert a 

 definite selection on diphtheroid cultures. One or the other biotype 

 will prevail, depending on the extent of suppression of the first or 

 second. 



Two explanations for the existence of coccus and bacillus are sug- 

 gested, either that of mutation or a symbiotic relationship of a contam- 

 inating coccus. The question can be settled by applying the single-cell 

 method to the study. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



Abbot: Bull. Johns Hopkins Hosp., 1891, 2, p. 143. 



Baumgarten's Jahrensbericht, 1891, p. 317. 



v. Besser cited by Migula. 



Biggs, Park and Beebe : Centralbl. f. Bakteriol., 1895, 17, p. 765. 



Billings and Rosenow : Jour. Am. Med. Assn., 1913, 61, p. 2122. 



Bloomfield: Arch. Int. Med., 1915, 16, p. 197. 



Bruno: Berl. klin. Wchnschr., 1898, 35, p. 1127. 



Buchanan : Jour. Infect. Dis., 1915, 17, p. 528. 



Bunting and Yates : Arch. Int. Med., 1913, 12, p. 236. 



Bunting and Yates: Jour. Am. Med. Assn., 1914, 62, p. 516. 



Cautley: Rep. Med. Officer of Health, Local Govt. Board, 1894-5, p. 455. 



Chester: Manual of Det. Bact, 1901, p. 171. 



Demme : Fortschritte d. Medizin, 1888, 1, p. 7. 



Eisenberg: Bakt. Diagnostik, 1891. 



Enderlen : Ztschr. f. Tiermedezin, 1891, p. 321. 



