MICROCOCCUS GONOERHCE^. 531 



ring in other portions of the field and outside of the 

 pus-cells should not be considered specific by this test 

 only. It should also be remembered that thegonococci 

 are decolorized by Gram's method, while other similar 

 micrococci which occur in the urethra are, as a rule, 

 at least, not so decolorized. Organisms having these 

 characteristics can for all practical purposes be con- 

 sidered as certainly gonococci if obtained from the 

 urethra. From the vulvo-vaginal tract the certainty is 

 not so great; here cultures should also be made. Burnm, 

 Heiman and others have shown that other diplococci 

 are occasionally found in gouorrhoeal pus from the vulvo- 

 vaginal tract, and very rarely, indeed, from the urethra, 

 which do not stain by this method. Cover-glass prepa- 

 rations from subacute or chronic cases should be ex- 

 amined, if possible, with a microscope provided with a 

 mechanical stage, and should always be stained by 

 Gram's method and the examination repeated on three 

 consecutive days. Should these specimens prove nega- 

 tive, to exclude any possible doubt in the matter, 

 cultures should then be made on chest-serum-agar, 

 poured in dishes, as proposed by Heiman, also, if with 

 negative results, on three consecutive days. His 

 method of procuring the urine in chronic urethritis 

 is to allow the patient to void his urine either imme- 

 diately into two sterilized centrifugal tubes or first 

 into two sterile bottles. The first tube will contain 

 threads of the anterior urethra; the second tube will 

 be likely to contain secretion from the posterior urethra 

 and from the prostate gland if, while urinating, the 

 patient's prostate be pressed upon with the finger. 

 Tubes containing such urine are placed in the centri- 

 fuge and whirled for three minutes at twelve hundred 



