520 BACTERIOLOGY. 



panied by rhinitis and purulent inflammation of the 

 mucous membranes of the nose. In one of his six cases 

 Weichselbaum succeeded in obtaining in pure culture 

 diplococci from the nasal secretion. Scheurer, in his 

 eighteen cases, found the diplococci in the nasal secre- 

 tions of all of them during life. In fifty healthy in- 

 dividuals examined they were found in the nasal secre- 

 tions of only two of them, one being a man suffering 

 at the time from a severe cold. This man, it is inter- 

 esting to note, had been engaged in disinfecting a room 

 which had previously been occupied by a patient with 

 cerebro-spinal meningitis. 



Bacteriological Diagnosis. By means of lumbar punc- 

 ture fluid can be readily obtained without danger from 

 the spinal canal. The microscopical examination will 

 frequently reveal numerous cells crowded with diplo- 

 cocci. When considerable quantities are inoculated 

 upon Loffler's blood-serum mixture or upon glycerin 

 agar, as a rule, a greater or less number of colonies 

 having the characteristics already described will de- 

 velop. The value, clinically, of the examination is 

 that about 40 per cent, of the cases due to this coccus 

 recover, while almost all of those due to the pneumo- 

 coccus and streptococcus die. In fifty-five cases exam- 

 ined by Councilman, Mallory, and Wright, diplococci 

 were found in the fluid removed by lumbar puncture in 

 thirty-eight, either by microscopical examination or 

 cultures. 



The longest time after the onset of the disease in which 

 positive results were obtained by culture was twenty- 

 nine days. In a number of cases examined by us for 

 Northrup a rather smaller percentage of the cases were 

 found to be due to this diplococcus. In many cases 



