' GENUS MICROCOCCUS 213 



agitation rises slowly in the shape of a twisted ropy coherent 

 mass. A delicate marginal ring on the side of the tube is usu- 

 ally present. No pellicle forms. The reaction in bouillon be- 

 comes decidedly acid after some days. In bouillon containing 

 1 per cent lactose, dextrose or saccharose, the growth is 

 rapid, but gas is not formed. The closed bulb becomes uni- 

 formly cloudy. The liquid becomes strongly acid. 



Milk. In milk, it grows rapidly. The milk becomes firmly 

 coagulated in from three to four days. The coagulum be- 

 comes partially peptonized and a transparent odorless whey 

 is collected about the coagulated mass. Litmus milk is changed 

 to a delicate pink on the third day. 



Life conditions and properties. There is evidence of 

 phenol when Weyl-Lewandowski 's a test for phenol is used. 



Resistance. This organism is destroyed at a tempera- 

 ture of from 58 to 60 C. after 10 minutes. It is destroyed 

 by a solution of 1 to 1000 bichloride of mercury in about % 

 minute. Formalin in strength of 2 per cent destroys it in less 

 than a minute. 



Pathogenesis. This organism which is the cause of 

 takosis, a contagious disease of goats, is characterized by 

 emaciation. Mohler found that it was pathogenic also to mice, 

 guinea pigs and to a certain extent for rabbits. He also found 

 that a certain number of the goats inoculated and fed with this 

 organism developed the disease. 



MICROCOCCI PATHOGENIC FOR MAN. 



Several micrococci attack man. M. pyogenes (Staph. 

 pyogenes aureus) is a very important pyogenic and wound in- 

 fecting organism for man. The micrococci of specific etio- 

 logical importance in the human species are: M. catarrhalis, 

 supposed to be the cause of a nasal catarrh; M. gonorrhoea, 

 the cause of gonorrhoea; M. intracellularis meningitis, the 

 cause of cerebro-spinal meningitis; M. lanceolatus, the cause 

 of lobar pneumonia ; M. tetragenus, occasionally found in acute 

 abscesses ; and M . melitensis, the cause of Malta fever. 

 1 Lewandowski. Deut. med. Woch., Bd. XVI (1890) p. 1186. 



