ERYSIPELAS. 287 



organisms. The micrococci were very numerous 

 in bits of skin excised from the diseased surface 

 in cases of erysipelas, and were commonly ar- 

 ranged in chains. They were never found in the 

 blood-vessels, and were most numerous in recently 

 affected parts ; here they invaded the superficial 

 layer of the corium and the sub-cutaneous adipose 

 tissue, filling the lymphatics and the lymph- 

 spaces. Fehleisen succeeded in cultivating these 

 micrococci by placing bits of excised skin upon 

 the surface of a jellified solution of gelatine. 

 Here they produced by their abundant multipli- 

 cation a whitish film, which was easily detached, 

 and was composed entirely of the organisms. 

 Nine rabbits were inoculated, and in eight a 

 characteristic erysipelatous rash was developed 

 after 36 to 48 hours. This was attended with 

 febrile disturbance at the outset. In a few days 

 the disease ran its course and the animals, without 

 exception, recovered. The inoculations were upon 

 the ear, both with micrococci taken directly from 

 a patient, and with cultivated organisms. The 

 disease extended from the point of inoculation to 

 the root of the ear, and thence to the head and 

 neck. 



In one case the ear was amputated during the 

 height of the disease, and the presence of micro- 

 cocci demonstrated in the lymphatics of the af- 

 fected part. 



Fehleisen also inoculated the pure, and culti- 

 vated, organisms upon man, with a successful 



