INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND MICROBES, ETC. 199 



disease. Eibbert thinks that Micrococcus pyogenes is 

 invariably present, and is the actual cause of influ- 

 enza ; but Besser has shown that it is common in 

 healthy men at least during the epidemic. In 1884 

 Seifert found a micrococcus in the sputa of influenza 

 patients and of no others. 



Although the microbe of influenza has not yet 

 been isolated, there is little doubt that influenza is 

 a microbian disease ; for its constancy of type, the 

 mode of its transmission, its independence of climatic 

 and seasonal conditions, all suggest that its cause 

 is 'specific' i.e. having the properties of growth 

 and multiplication which belong to a living thing. 1 



PNEUMONIA. 



In this disease large numbers of micrococci are 

 present in the lungs. 



The microbe (Micrococcus pneumonice, Fig. 33, 17) 

 was discovered by Friedlander, 2 and occurs in the 

 sputa of pneumonic patients, either singly, as diplo- 

 cocci, short chains, and zooglcea. Sometimes the 

 microbes are free, while at other times they are 

 encysted in the lymphatic cells. They are oval, 

 encapsulated microbes, and have been cultivated in 

 blood-serum, peptonised gelatine, bouillon, and on 

 steamed potatoes. 



1 See Sisley's Epidemic Influenza (1891) ; Erodie's paper in 

 Nature, July 23, 1891 ; Parsou's Report on Influenza to the Local 

 Government Board (1891) ; the Hon. R. Russel's pamphlet, The 

 Spread of Influenza (1891) ; Cantani's V Influenza (1890) ; Tala- 

 mon's La Grippe et les Microbes (1890). See also the Appendix. 



2 Virchow's Archiv, vol. Ixxxvii. 



