SUPPURA TION. 1 55 



In milk coagulation takes place, and is followed by 

 gradual digestion of the casein. 



The Staphylococcus albus is exactly the same as the 

 aureus, with the exception that in all media it is con- 

 stantly colorless. 



Experiments have shown that the Staphylococcus 

 aureus, like its congener, the albus, exists in an atten- 

 uated form, and there is every reason to believe that in 

 the majority of instances it inhabits the surface of the 

 body in this form. 



When virulent the golden Staphylococcus is a danger- 

 ous and often deadly organism. Its pathogeny among 

 animals is decided. When introduced subcutaneously, 

 abscesses almost invariably follow, except in a certain 

 few comparatively immune species, and not infrequently 

 lead to a fatal termination. In such cases the organisms 

 may be cultivated from the blood of the large vessels, 

 though by far the greater number collect in, and fre- 

 quently obstruct, the capillaries. In the lungs and 

 spleen, and still more frequently in the kidneys, infarcts 

 are formed by the bacterial emboli. The Malpighian 

 tufts of the kidneys sometimes are full of cocci, and 

 become the centres of small abscesses. 



The coccus is almost equally pathogenic for man, 

 though the fatal outcome is much more rare. It enters 

 the system through scratches, punctures, or abrasions, 

 and when virulent generally causes an abscess, as various 

 experimenters who inoculated themselves have discov- 

 ered to their cost. Garre applied the organism in pure 

 culture to the uninjured skin of his arm, and in four 

 days developed a large carbuncle with a surrounding 

 zone of furuncles. Bockhart suspended a small portion 

 of an agar-agar culture in salt-solution, and scratched it 

 gently into the deeper layers of the skin with his finger- 

 nail ; a furuncle developed. Bumm injected the coccus 

 suspended in salt-solution beneath his skin and that of 

 several other persons, and produced an abscess in every 

 case. 



