STREPTOCOCCUS PYOGENES 



THE Streptococcus Pyogenes is associated with 

 spreading inflammation of the erysipelatous type, 

 but is also found in local abscesses and many other 

 suppurative conditions. In pus (Fig. 43) it occurs 

 in chains of spherical cells of extremely variable 

 length, sometimes consisting of only three or four 

 members, and sometimes of thirty or forty. The 

 chains are usually free and extracellular. The indi- 

 vidual cells are about 1 ^ in diameter, are readily 

 stained by any of the basic aniline dyes, and resist 

 decolorisation when stained by Gram's method. 

 Though frequently the organism consists of a series 

 of regular and equidistant cells, yet often, as in the 

 figure, the cells appear arranged in pairs separated 

 by a smaller space than that which divides the 

 pairs from one another. As has already been men- 

 tioned, in speaking of the varieties of micro- 

 organisms, this is probably a result of the method 

 of growth. In size of cells, irregularity in size of 



