222 BIOLOGY AND TECHNIQUE 



Bertarclli 11 also carried out interesting studies on the normal bac- 

 terial flora of the accessory nasal sinuses. Working first with dogs, 

 they found that in 20 dogs of various ages, the frontal sinuses were 

 always sterile. In a single case they isolated an organism which 

 resembled the Colon bacillus. 



In 8 dogs the ethmoidal sinuses were sterile. In. 16 of 20 dogs 

 the maxillary sinuses, antrum of Highmore, were sterile. In the 

 others they found various cocci. When they inoculated the naso- 

 pharynx of dogs with cultures of B. prodigiosus, pyocyaneus, and 

 subtilis, and killed them 8 to 24 hours later, 3 of them showed 

 entirely sterile accessory sinuses and sterile middle ear. One animal 

 gave a positive culture of prodigiosus in the antrum, frontal sinuses, 

 and the ear. In 3 others, only the antrum was infected. Two of 

 the animals treated with B. pyocyaneus retained sterile sinuses. Of 

 6 treated with Subtilis, 4 were entirely sterile. It is interesting to 

 note that the animals that were infected, were those which were 

 killed only 8 to 10 hours after inoculation. Of those which were 

 killed between 18 and 24 hours after inoculation, all but one were 

 sterile. They examined 12 fresh human cadavers within a few hours 

 after death, never later than 20 hours. In all but one of these 

 all accessory sinuses of the nose were sterile, and in this one a non- 

 pathogenic Staphylococcus Albus was found. Kuster, who has sum- 

 marized work on the nasal flora in the Kolle and Wassermann, on 

 the basis of a study of the literature as well as his own investiga- 

 tions, comes to the conclusion that we cannot speak of a character- 

 istic nasal flora, that practically all of the organisms with which 

 man can come in contact through the air may settle there for a 

 shorter or longer period. In a healthy nose, however, few organisms 

 can gain a permanent foothold, largely because of unsuitable cultural 

 conditions and of the action of leucocytes and the secretions. 



Bacteria in the Tissues Themselves. Recent work has given definite 

 evidence that even the tissues themselves may not be sterile in 

 normal human beings. This has led, we believe, to a certain 

 amount of error in etiological conclusions when blood cultures and 

 cultures from normal or slightly diseased lymphatic tissues have 

 been taken, and diphtheroid and various coccus forms isolated. 

 According to the experiments done by Adami 12 there is a constant 



"Calamida and Bertarelli, Ziet. f. Bakt., I Orig., 32, 1902, 

 *- Adami, Jour. A. M. A., Dec., 1899, 



