302 BACTERIA IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 



Neisser claims that this micrococcus has distinct 

 morphological characters, and describes it as fol- 

 lows : The micrococcus, at first round, becomes 

 oval, and then divides transversely, forming a 

 pair. The individual members of this pair are 

 soon separated from each other by a slight inter- 

 val, and each becomes oval and divides at right 

 angles to the first line of division, thus forming a 

 group of four. These groups are seen in the in- 

 terior of the pus cells, and in some cases they are 

 so numerous that the cells are completely filled 

 with them, arid resemble very closely the plasma 

 cells which have been described by Ehrlich (see 

 Figs. 12 and 13). 



The writer is able to confirm Neisser, as to 

 the presence of these micrococci in gonorrhoeal 

 pus, and as regards the correctness of his descrip- 

 tion of their morphological characters and mode 

 of grouping in pairs of oval elements and in 

 fours as a result of transverse division in two 

 directions. But his observations have not led him 

 to the conclusion that these morphological char- 

 acters are peculiar to the micrococcus of gonor- 

 rhoeal pus (consult bibliography for titles of his 

 papers upon this subject). Thus in Fig. 6, Plate 

 IX., we have a photographic representation of a 

 micrococcus of the same dimensions, and which 

 multiplies in the same manner, which I have fre- 

 quently found in normal human saliva, commonly 

 attached to the surface of (or imbedded in the 

 interior of?) an epithelial cell, where it forms 



