432 BACTERIA PATHOGENIC TO MAN 



solved in ether. In an atmosphere of pure oxygen a brown pigment. 

 Animal experiments gave positive results only when to a fourteen-day- 

 old bouillon culture lactic acid was added; then pseudotuberculosis 

 was produced. 



Eppinger found in post-mortem examination of a case of chronic 

 cerebral abscess, which was the result of purulent meningitis, in the 

 pus and abscess walls, etc., a delicate fungoid growth which he suc- 

 ceeded in cultivating on various media. On sugar agar it formed 

 yellow, rumpled colonies which finally developed into a skin. On 

 potato it grew rapidly, but the colonies remained small, at first a white, 

 granular deposit, which afterward turned red, and on the twentieth day 

 resembled a crystallized almond. It did not grow well on gelatin. In 

 bouillon it formed on the surface a small white granule, which became 

 deeper in the centre as it grew and sunk to the bottom as a white deposit. 

 The bouillon remained clear. 



Microscopically the fungus consisted of fine threads without branches, 

 which exhibited distinct motility. No flagella were observed. It was 

 judged to be a cladothrix, to which the name "asteroides" was given 

 by the author. It proved to be quite pathogenic for rabbits and 

 guinea-pigs, and produced an infection of pseudotuberculosis. Mice 

 were not affected by inoculation. 



Numerous cases have since been observed in which the streptothrix 

 proved to be the cause of chronic lung diseases, clinically suspected to 

 be tuberculosis. 



