SUPPURA TION. 267 



Germans see in the organism a resemblance to their pop- 

 ular biscuit called a "semmel." 



The gonococcus is small, is not motile, like other cocci, 

 is not provided with flagella, and does not have spores. 

 It stains readily with all the aqueous anilin dyes — best 

 with rather weak solutions — but not by Gram's method. 

 It can be found in the urethral discharges of gonorrhea 

 from the beginning until the end of the disease, though 

 in the later days its numbers may be outweighed by other 



0m $?*•■■ 



ffSJM*:,.. ,\ 



*jfe 



% 



V 





Fig. 59. — Gonococcus in urethral pus ; x 1000 (Fr'ankel and Pfeiffer). 



organisms. Wertheim cultivated the gonococcus from a 

 case of chronic urethritis of two years' standing, and 

 proved its virulence by producing with it gonorrhea in 

 a human being. The organisms are generally found 

 within the pus-cells (Fig. 59) or attached to the surface 

 of epithelial cells, and should always be sought for as 

 diagnostic of gonorrhea, especially as urethritis some- 

 times is caused by other organisms, as the Bacillus coli 

 communis 1 and the Staphylococcus pyogenes. 



The cultivation of the gonococcus is not an easy task, 

 but one which requires considerable bacteriologic skill. 



1 Van der Pluyn and Loag : Centralbl. f. Bakt. u. Parasilenk., Bd. xvii., 

 Nos. 7, 8, Feb. 28, 1895, p. 233. 



