448 BACTERIA IN SURGICAL LESIONS. 



intact, even when it is deeply situated in -the 

 tissues ; and yet the observations of Pasteur, Koch, 

 Cheyne, and many others, are in accord as to the 

 absence of all micro-organisms from .the blood of 

 healthy persons. Whether, then, we suppose this 

 micrococcus to be the cause or the result of the for- 

 mation of these abscesses, we are met by the ques- 

 tion, How did it get there in the first instance ? 

 In certain cases such abscesses may be traced to 

 an injury in which a slender, sharp-pointed in- 

 strument e. g., a needle or a thorn has pene- 

 trated deeply into the tissues ; and in this case we 

 may suppose that micrococci have been introduced 

 in this way. Or possibly the point of inoculation 

 may have been far removed from the situation 

 where the abscess is developed, and the organisms 

 may have made their way in the blood-current or 

 through the lymphatics to this point, where, for 

 some mechanical reason, they have been arrested. 

 But this is speculation, and we must leave the 

 question unsettled, and content ourselves for the 

 present with a summary statement of the observed 

 facts relating to the presence of this micrococcus 

 in collections of pus not exposed to the air. 



In 1875, Bergeron, in a communication to the 

 French Academy of Sciences, reported, as the re- 

 sult of numerous observations made for the pur- 

 pose of ascertaining if the pus of abscesses contains 

 bacteria, as follows : 



" 1. Vibrios are found in the pus of abscesses, with- 

 out any contact with the external air, and without, 



