HIGHER BACTERIA 



363 



into the air. These threads under the microscope are seen to 

 consist of many spore-like bodies resembling streptococci. The 

 growth becomes darker with time. Milk is coagulated in a few 

 days and the coagulmn completely digested. Litmus milk 



Fig: 77. Actinomyces pulmo- 

 nalis. A photogroph from a 

 preparation from a colony in the 

 condensation water of an agar 

 culture, 5 days old. Stained with 

 carbol fuchsin. X 365 (Bur- 

 nett). 



remains clear. The cultures especially those on potato have 

 a pronounced musty odor. 



It is not pathogenic for rabbits or guinea pigs inoculated 

 in the ear vein or abdominal cavity. 



This organism is exceedingly interesting inasmuch, as the 

 lesions which it produces in cattle are liable to be mistaken for 

 tubercle and , as already stated, the two cases from which it 

 was first isolated were first diagnosed as tuberculosis. In these 

 cases the lungs were the only organs examined. 



ACTINOMYCES FARCINICA. 



Synonyms. Nocardia farcinica Trevisan 1889; Strepto- 

 thrix farcinica Rossi-Doria 1891 ; bovine farcy. 



Place in nature. In 1888, Nocard 7 discovered a disease 

 of cattle in Guadaloupe, "Farcin du boeuf," to be due to an 

 actinomyces (streptothrix). This organism has frequently 

 been described from the lesions in the lungs which simulated 

 tuberculosis. Flexner 8 and Morris and Larkin 9 have de- 



7 Nocard. Ann. de 1'Inst. Pasteur, Vol. II (1888) p. 293. 



8 Flexner. Jour. Exp. Med., Vol. Ill (1898) p. 435. 



9 Morris and Larkin. Proc. of N. Y. Path. Soc., March 1899. 



