970 THE HIGHER BACTERIA, MOLDS AND FUNGI 



or in the intra-abdominal organs is, of course, far more serious. 

 When death occurs acutely, it is often due to secondary infection. 

 The disease is acquired probably by the agency of hay, straw, and 

 grain. 



Berestnew 27 has succeeded in isolating actinomyces from straw 

 and hay which he covered with sterile water in a potato jar and 

 placed in the incubator. After a few days small white specks 

 looking like chalk powder appeared upon the stalks which upon 

 .further cultivation developed a growth which he considered identical 

 with the pathogenic species of the Bostroem type. Typical anaerobic 

 actinomyces have never been isolated except from cases of the 

 disease. 



Animal inoculation has given conflicting results. Bostroem with 

 his aerobic cultures was unable to produce lesions. Israel and Wolff 

 did, on the other hand, produce nodules resembling those seen in 

 spontaneous infections with their anaerobic cultures, but the lesions 

 were not progressive and healed spontaneously. Wright could 

 produce lesions with anaerobic but never with aerobic strains. He 

 concluded that the anaerobic organism was the true cause of ac- 

 tinomyces, and that Bostroem was probably dealing with a con- 

 tamination. On the other hand Pinoy, Castellani, Brumpt, and 

 others reviewing the subject state that the disease actinomycosis, though 

 usually produced by the anaerobic organism is in some cases caused 

 by aerobic organisms belonging to the genus nocardia. Others have 

 attempted to distinguish between strains by the presence or absence 

 of clubs in the infected tissue, reserving the name actinomyces for 

 those parasites which produce clubs and calling all others strepto- 

 thrices or nocardice. This is an unsatisfactory criterion, however, as 

 MacCallum was able to produce clubs by intraperitoneal injection of 

 his strain which, in every other respect, was a typical nocardia 

 asteroides. 



B. actinomycetum comitans. As in other mycoses the isolation 

 of the parasite in this disease is made difficult by the presence in 

 the lesions of numerous bacteria which overgrow primary cultures. 

 The contaminants are frequently pyogenic cocci and saprophytic 

 intestinal bacilli. One unusual type of organism has, however, been 

 found in these lesions with sufficient frequency to deserve mention. 

 Wolf and Israel 28 mention the presence in the granules of numerous 



27 Berestnew, Bef. Cent. Bakt., 24, 1898. 



28 Wolf, M., and Israel, J., loc. cit. 



