THE GOXOCOCCUS OR MICROCOCCUS GONORRHCE& 



367 



up by them. There is no evidence that the gonococci are destroyed 

 by tlie pus cells (Fig. 112). 



Staining. The gonococcus stains readily with the basic aniline 

 colors. Loeffler's solution of methylene blue is one of the best staining 

 agents for demonstrating its presence in pus, for, while staining the gono- 

 cocci deeply, it leaves the cell protoplasm but faintly stained. Fuch- 

 sin is apt to overstain the cell substance. Beautiful double-stained 

 preparations may be made from gonorrhceal pus by treating cover- 

 glass smears with methylene blue and eosin. Numerous methods for 

 double staining have been employed, with the object of making a few 

 gonococci more conspicuous. None of them have any specific char- 

 acteristics such as the Gram stain. It is now established that gono- 

 cocci from fresh cultures and from recent gonorrhceal infections are, 

 when properly treated by Gram's method, quickly and surely robbed 

 of their color. The removal of the stain from gonococci in old flakes 



FIG. Ill 



FIG. 112 



Smear from pure culture of gonococcus on agar. 

 X 1100 diameters. (Heiman.) 



Gonococcus in pus cells. 

 X 1100 diameters. 



and threads from chronic cases is not so certain. This difference is 

 mostly due to the fact that equally uniform specimens cannot be pre- 

 pared. The decolorized gonococci are stained by dipping the films 

 for a few seconds into a 1 : 10 dilution of carbol-fuchsin, or a solu- 

 tion of bismarck brown This staining should be for as short a time 

 as suffices to stain the decolorized organisms. This method of stain- 

 ing cannot be depended upon alone to absolutely distinguish the 

 gonococcus from all other diplococci found in the urethra and vulvo- 

 vaginal tract, for, especially in the female, other diplococci are occa- 

 sionally found which are also not stained by Gram's method. It 

 serves, how r ever, to distinguish this micrococcus from the common 

 pyogenic cocci, which retain their color when treated in the same way, 

 and in the male urethra it is practically certain, as no organism has 

 been found in that location which in morphology and staining is iden- 

 tical with the gonococcus. It is certainly the most distinctive charac- 

 teristic of the staining properties of the gonococcus, and it is a test 



