io DAVID J. DAVIS 



was obtained, but in some cases several specimens were studied. In 

 a number of the cases I examined. the sputum in hanging drop, 

 having in mind especially the protozoa reported by several to have 

 been found in this way. Nothing was seen which could be taken 

 for protozoa, except occasionally a ciliated epithelial cell. The 

 leucocytes and pus cells vary a great deal in their appearance, and 

 one might mistake some of these for ameba. Stained preparations 

 frequently show ciliated epithelial cells, and also numerous large, 

 flat epithelial cells and polymorphonuclear leucocytes, but nothing 

 that could be interpreted as protozoa was seen. 



A number of specimens of whooping-cough sputum were examined 

 with the ultramicroscope with the view of detecting the possible 

 presence of an ultramicroscopic motile organism. This was done by 

 diluting the sputum in broth and then passing this through a porcelain 

 filter, which would retain all the microscopic particles. With the 

 ultramicroscope many small particles could be seen in the filtrate 

 but they were all non-motile, and were probably particles of proteid. 

 Such filtrates remained permanently sterile when tested on various 

 kinds of media. 



Smears made of the sputum showed as a rule both. Gram- and 

 non- Gram-staining bacteria. The Gram-staining ones, for the most 

 part, were lanceolate diplococci, frequently encapsulated. It is com- 

 mon to find these adhering to the large, flat epithelial cells so often 

 encountered in the sputum. There is little doubt that they belong 

 to the pneumococcus group. Only rarely is a streptococcus chain 

 observed. Occasionally one meets Gram-positive bacilli which are 

 shown by culture to belong usually to the diphtheria group. Cocci 

 of the staphylococcus type are frequently seen, but are few in number. 

 The non- Gram- staining organisms are usually most numerous, and 

 of these a short, small bacillus, practically indistinguishable from 

 the influenza bacillus, is most common. Sometimes it exists almost 

 alone and in enormous numbers. It never forms threads in the 

 sputum, and occasionally it is seen in the leucocytes in large numbers. 

 Another non- Gram-staining organism, not infrequently met with in 

 smear, is a biscuit-shaped diplococcus which appears to be M. 

 catarrhalis. In a few of the cases, fusiform bacilli and spirilla were 

 found in large numbers. 



