326 ACTINOMYCOSIS AND ALLIED DISEASES 



FIG. 96. 1 Shake cultures of actinomyces in 

 glucose agar, showing the maximum 

 growth at some distance from the surface 

 of the medium. 



regarded as a distinct 

 species. Another species 

 was cultivated by Ep- 

 pinger from a brain 

 abscess, and called by 

 him ' ' cladothrix aste- 

 roides," from the appear- 

 ance of its colonies on 

 culture media. A case 

 of general streptothrix 

 infection in the human 

 subject described by 

 Mac Donald was pro- 

 bably due to the same 

 organism as Eppinger's. 

 In the tissues it grows 

 in a somewhat diffuse 

 manner, and does not 



of the growths, and a similar 

 condition may obtain in the 

 case of the human subject. 

 Furthermore, a considerable 

 number of strcptothrices 

 have been found in cases of 

 disease in the human sub- 

 ject, the associated lesions 

 varying in character from 

 tubercle-like nodules on the 

 one hand to suppurative 

 processes on the other. The 

 organisms cultivated from 

 such sources differ accord- 

 ing to their microscopic 

 characters (for example, 

 some form "clubs" whilst 

 others do not) according to 

 their conditions of growth, 

 staining reactions, etc. Of 

 these only a few examples 

 may here be mentioned, but 

 it may be noted that the 

 importance of the strepto- 

 th rices as causes of disease 

 is constantly being ex- 

 tended. Wolff and Israel 

 cultivated from two cases 

 of " actinomycosis " in man 

 a streptothrix which differs 

 in so many important points 

 from the actinomyces of 

 Bostrom that it is now 



FIG. 97. Section of a colony of actinomyces 

 from a culture in blood serum, showing the 

 formation of clubs at the periphery, x 1500. 



i For Figs. 96 and 97 we are indebted to Dr. J. Homer Wright of 

 Boston, U.S.A. 



