II 



Bacteriology 



The cryptococcus is found abundantly in the mor- 

 bid tissues and products, partly free in the plasma and 

 partly enclosed in pus corpuscles, which are often loaded 

 with ten or even twenty to thirty of them, causing the 

 corpuscles to be sometimes double or triple their normal 

 size. It is a slightly ovoid body, one end of which is 

 generally pointed and the other rounded. It is 

 characterized by its clearly defined contour and its very 

 refractile double outline. 



It measures about 3 to 4 /a in diameter, and in un- 

 stained preparations is best seen with a one-twelfth oil 

 immersion and an Abbe condenser under a magnification 

 of not less than eight hundred to one thousand diameters, 

 particular attention being paid to the regulating of the 

 light ; in stained specimens the organism can be easily 

 seen under a much lower power. 



The classification of the parasite has been discussed 

 by several writers on the subject. Canalis puts it in 

 the group of coccidia. Piana and Galli-Vallerio amongst 

 the sporozoa, and Formi and Aruch in the blastomy- 

 cetes, but Tokishige was the first to express the opinion 

 that it was a class of saccharomyces, Marcone being of 

 the same opinion was anxious to change the name of 

 the disease then already well-known as epizootic 

 lymphangitis to saccharomycosis farcminosus(R'wo\td.), and 

 as these two observers both claim to have cultivated the 

 organism I am inclined to accept their opinion and adopt 

 their nomenclature. 



According to Tokishige the organism is provided 

 with a thick membrane, the contents of which are more 

 or less homogeneous and transparent or finely granular, 

 and usually a coccus-like granule measuring -25 to i /x 

 in diameter is suspended in it. 



