406 THE DIPHTHERIA BACILLUS GROUP 



Morphologically the organism is variable in shape. Bacillary 

 forms predominate in young cultures, but the bacilli exhibit a marked 

 tendency toward coccoid elements after prolonged cultivation. 



The etiological relationship of the organism, 1 which received the 

 name Corynebacterium hodgkini, to Hodgkin's disease is as yet un- 

 determined, but vaccines injected into several typical cases caused 

 a definite recession in the size of the enlarged glands. The permanence 

 of this recession must await final reports. 



Bunting and Yates 2 injected their organism into monkeys, and a 

 chronic lymphadenitis with an increased mononu clear and eosinophile 

 count resulted. A polymorphonuclear leukocytosis was not observed. 

 They conclude that the anatomical lesions were very similar to those 

 observed in the early stages of Hodgkin's disease in man. 



1 See excellent resume by Bloomfield, Arch. Int. Med., August, 1915, p. 197. 



2 Jour. Am. Med. Assn., 1913, Ixi, 1803; ibid., 1914, Ixii, 516. 



