292 BACTERIA IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 



and tissues/' 1 The author quoted is very positive 

 as to the etiological role of these micrococci, and 

 agrees with Eberth in the statement, "Without 

 micrococci there can be no diphtheria." The Micrococ- 

 cus diphtheria, Oertel, is described as follows, in a 

 later work : 2 "It has an oval form, with a length 

 of 1-1. 5 n, and a breadth of 0.3 /* ; larger indi- 

 viduals, found nearer the surface, being 4.2 /* long, 

 and 1.1 /x broad. Where the individuals are more 

 scattered, they occur mostly in pairs, rarely a 

 number connected into a torula-like chain. When 

 present in masses, the cells lie so close together 

 that it is difficult to determine whether they are 

 connected or not. They are then imbedded in a 

 gelatinous envelope, and thus combined in masses 

 into a colony." 3 



The inoculability of the disease has been proved 

 by experiments upon animals ; and filtration 

 experiments (Eberth) show that the infectious 

 element in diphtheritic exudation is participate. 

 Klebs, who has the credit of first resorting to the 

 method of " fractional cultivations," claims to have 

 produced diphtheria in animals by inoculating them 

 with pure-cultures of the micrococcus, and to have 

 subsequently recognized the parasite in their blood 

 and tissues. 



According to Ewart and Simpson, the patho- 

 genic organism of diphtheria is a minute spore 



1 Cyclopaedia of the Practice of Medicine, Ziemssen, Vol. I. p. 690. 



2 Zur Aetiologie der Infectionskrankhciten, 1881. 



8 Quoted from Journal Roy. Mic. Soc. Ser. II., Vol. IL p. 88. 



