248 BACTERIOLOGY. 



If one inject into the circulation of the rabbit through 

 one of the veins of the ear, or in any other way, from 

 0.1 to 0.3 c.c. of a bouillon culture or watery suspension 

 of a virulent variety of this organism, a fatal pyaemia 

 always follows in from two and one-half to three days. 

 A few hours before death the animal is frequently seen 

 to have severe convulsions. Now and then excessive 

 secretion of urine is noticed. The animal may appear 

 in moderately good condition until from eight to ten 

 hours before death. At the autopsy a typical picture 

 presents; the voluntary muscles are seen to be marked 

 here and there by yellow spots, which average the size 

 of a flaxseed, and are of about the same shape. They 

 lie usually with their long axis running longitudinally 

 between the muscle fibres. As the abdominal and tho- 

 racic cavities are opened the diaphragm is often seen to 

 be studded by them. Frequently the pericardial sac is 

 distended with a clear gelatinous fluid, and almost con- 

 stantly the yellow points are to be seen in the myocar- 

 dium. The kidneys are rarely without them; here they 

 appear on the surface, scattered about as single yellow 

 points, or, again, are seen as conglomerate masses of 

 small yellow points which occupy, as a rule, the area 

 fed by a single vessel. If one make a section into one 

 of these yellow points, it will be seen to extend deep 

 down through the substance of the kidney as a yellow, 

 wedge-shaped mass, the base of the wedge being at the 

 surface of the organ. 



It is very rare that these abscesses — for abscesses the 

 yellow points are, as we shall see when we come to study 

 them more closely — are found either in the liver, spleen, 

 or brain; their usual location being, as said, in the kid- 

 ney, myocardium, and voluntary muscles. 



