IV. 



BACTERIA OF THE SURFACE OF THE BODY AND OF 

 EXPOSED MUCOUS MEMBRANES. 



GREAT numbers of bacteria of various species multiply upon the 

 surface of the human body, where they find the necessary pabulum 

 in the excretions from the skin and the exfoliated epithelium. Evi- 

 dently the number will be largely influenced by the clothing worn, 

 the atmospheric conditions as to heat and moisture, personal habits, 

 etc. The writer has frequently inoculated culture media with a drop 

 of sterilized fluid which had been placed upon the surface of the body 

 of patients in hospitals and of healthy persons. By friction with a 

 platinum needle at the point where the drop of fluid is applied the 

 surface is washed and a little epithelium detached. Cultures may 

 always be obtained by inoculating nutrient media from a drop of fluid 

 applied in this way. Micrococci of various species, including the pus 

 cocci, are very commonly encountered ; sarcinse and various bacilli 

 are also frequently met with. Even the hands, which by reason of 

 their exposure and frequent ablutions are freer from exfoliated epi- 

 thelium than portions of the body covered with clothing, have con- 

 stantly attached to their surface a considerable number of bacteria. 

 This is shown by the experiments of Kummel and Forster, of Fiir- 

 bringer and others, with reference to the disinfection of the hands, 

 Forster found that after the most careful cleaning of the hands with 

 soap, water, and a brush, contact of the fingers with nutrient gelatin 

 always resulted in the development of a greater or less number of 

 colonies. 



Bordoiii-Uffreduzzi, in his researches relating to the bacteria of 

 the skin, obtained in pure cultures five different species of micrococci 

 and two bacilli. Pure cultures of his Bacterium graveolens, which 

 was usually found between the toes, gave off a disagreeable odor like 

 that observed from this locality in certain individuals. In his re- 

 searches made in Havana the writer frequently encountered in cul- 

 tures from the surface, associated with various micrococci, his Micro- 

 coccus tetragenus versatilis. 



Fiirbringer found quite frequently in the spaces beneath the fin- 



