BACTERIA IN SURGICAL LESIONS. 453 



blood, and the infiltration of the organisms into the 

 tissues around the abscess no longer existed, having been 

 replaced by a firm, thick wall of granulation tissue, in 

 which micrococci could seldom be detected, and which 

 seemed to act as a barrier, preventing or diminishing their 

 migration into the blood and surrounding structures. . . . 



" On the presumption that carbolic acid would de- 

 stroy the power of the micrococci, a series of injections 

 were instituted with pus mixed with equal parts of a 

 five per cent watery solution of that substance. These 

 were employed on separate animals, as well as on a 

 different part of an animal injected with unmixed pus 

 from an acute abscess ; and in every case, the pus so 

 disinfected, though injected in larger quantity, produced 

 no reaction whatever, but disappeared in the rapid and 

 complete way described under the experiments with that 

 from cold abscesses. 



" I next endeavored to ascertain the temperature 

 capable of destroying the power of micrococci. Although, 

 in this direction, the experiments were not so numerous 

 as is desirable, it may be stated that pus heated to 

 130 Fahr., or higher, hitherto always failed to excite 

 suppuration." 



This is strong evidence in favor of the view that 

 the formation of acute abscesses is due to the 

 presence of this micrococcus. The writer has shown 

 that its thermal death-point is 140 Fahr., the 

 time of exposure being ten minutes. Ogston does 

 not state the time of exposure to a tempera- 

 ture of 130 Fahr., but it may well be that a 

 somewhat longer exposure than ten minutes at 

 this temperature would also be fatal to the mi- 

 crococcus. 



