PYOGENIC BACTERIA. 391 



aureus in nine, Staphylococcus citreus in three, and Staphylococcus 

 cereus albus in three. These pus organisms were in a number of 

 the cases associated with other well-known saprophytes, and in seven 

 cases a short bacillus not previously described was found. That 

 various bacilli are found in the conjunctival sac of healthy eyes 

 and in different forms of conjunctivitis has been shown by Fick, 

 whose results do not correspond in this respect with those of Gif- 

 ford, who found almost exclusively micrococci. Whatever may be 

 the final conclusion as to the role of the pus cocci heretofore de- 

 scribed in the etiology of acute or chronic conjunctivitis, there can be 

 no doubt of the power of the " gonococcus" to induce a virulent in- 

 flammation of the conjunctive when introduced into healthy eyes. 



MICROCOCCUS GONORRHCE^E. 



Synonym. Gonococcus (Neisser). 



Discovered by Neisser (1870) in gonorrhoea! pus and described by 

 him under the name of " Gonococcus/' Cultivated by Bumm (1885), 

 and infective virulence proved by inocula- 

 tion into man. Constantly present in viru- 

 lent gonorrhoea! discharges, for the most 

 part in the interior of the pus cells or at- 

 tached to the surface of epithelial cells. 



Morphology. Micrococci, usually join- ft 

 ed in pairs or in groups of four, in which 

 the elements are flattened - - " biscuit- 

 shaped." The flattened surf aces face each 



other and are separated, in stained pre- ? &) ^ %$ 1 

 parations, by an unstained interspace. c 



* . A Fia. 85. a, gonococci from a 



Ihe diameter of an associated pair ot cells pure culture, x about 1,000 ; &,gono- 

 varies from 0.8 to 1.6 /i in the long dia- cocci in P US cells and epithelial CPU 



, ,, from case of gonorrhoeal ophthal- 



meter average about 1.2o /* and from mia; c , form and mode of division 



0.6 to 0.8 yw in the line of the interspace of gonococci-schematic. 

 between the biscuit-shaped elements, which 



sometimes present a slight concavity of the flattened surfaces. Mul- 

 tiplication occurs alternately in two planes, and as a result of this 

 groups of four are frequently observed. But diplococci are more 

 numerous and are considered as the characteristic mode of grouping. 

 Single, spherical, undivided cells are rarely seen. 



It must be remembered that the morphology of this micrococcus 

 as above described does not suffice to distinguish it, for Bumm has 

 shown that " the biscuit form is not at all specific for the gonococcus, 

 but is shared with it by a number of microorganisms, which consist 

 of two hemispherical elements with the flattened surfaces facing each 



