124 OUTLINES OF BACTEEIOLOGY 



the bacilli is very small, for 24 hours' exposure to the atmosphere 

 is enough to kill them, and even in water containing no source of 

 nutriment two days were found to be sufficient to complete their 

 destruction. Contagion must therefore ensue, if at all, within a 

 day after the bacteria have left the body. This is effected by means 

 of the spitting, coughing and even speaking of the infected persons, 

 whereby small particles of the mucus are ejected. The reason why 

 influenza is more "catching" than most other diseases is owing to 

 the fact that the bacilli may remain alive inside the body for weeks, 

 if not months, after the patient has recovered from an attack. This 

 is shown by the fact that it is possible to make a culture of Bac. 

 influenza from the sputum of a person several weeks after recovery 

 from an attack of this disease. 



Gonorrhoea is a disease associated with Micrococcus gonorrhoeas. 

 The organism consists of round cells. Micrococcus is the generic 

 name for cocci, which divide in two directions of 

 space. This micrococcus is usually found in couples 

 (Fig- 77). In the pus of acute gonorrhoea many 

 % micrococci are found both in the male and in the 

 female. In the earliest stage of the disease a 

 IG ' gonorrhreae? C considerable number of the micrococci are found 

 either free or else adhering only to the surface 

 of the desquamated epithelial cells, while in later or more acute 

 forms of the disease there is a greater penetration into the tissues. 

 The micrococci are only locally distributed. The toxin of this organism 

 has been prepared by growing the organism in an appropriate medium 

 for twelve days. When inoculated into the human urethra, either 

 male or female, this toxin produces all the symptoms of the disease, 

 even though the cocci themselves are not present. Inoculation of 

 the toxin into the bodies of lower animals seems to have no effect 

 on them. 



In the peculiar disease called leprosy, a microbe called Bacillus 

 leprae is always present, but, hitherto, all attempts to cultivate it 

 outside the human body or the lower animals have failed. It occurs 

 in certain parts of Europe Norway, Russia, Greece, etc. is very 

 common in parts of Asia, e.g. Syria and Persia, and is also found 

 in Africa, along the coast, among the Pacific Islands, and in the 

 warmer parts of North and South America. It is a chronic disease, 

 a great amount of tissue change being produced, with very little 

 detriment to the general health. The bacillus is a thin rod, about 

 the same size as the tubercle bacillus, which it also resembles in 



