120 ESSENTIALS OF BACTERIOLOGY. 



with the tetragenus cultures, and the micrococcus is then found 

 in large numbers in the blood and viscera. 



Field mice are immune. 



In the cavities of tubercular lungs, in the sputum of phthisical 

 and healthy patients, it is often found, but what action it has 

 upon man has not yet been determined. 



Capsule Bacillus. (Pfeiffer.) 



Origin. Stringy exudate and blood of a dead guinea-pig. 



Form. Thick little rods, sometimes in long threads. Large 

 oval capsules in the stained preparations. 



Properties. Immotile, not liquefying, an odorless gas in gela- 

 tine cultures. 



Growth. At ordinary temperatures, quite rapidly ; facultative 

 anserobin. 



Gelatine Plates. Oval points, and like a porcelain button on 

 the surface. 



Stab Cultures. Like the pneumonia bacillus of Friedlander. 



Potatoes. Abundant growth, yellow color and moist, coming 

 off in strings. 



Staining. Hot fuchsin colors the capsule intensely ; then care- 

 fully decolorizing with acetic acid, the capsules are seen red or 

 light violet around the deeply-tinged bacillus. Gram's method 

 not applicable. 



Pathogenesis. Subcutaneously injected in mice, they die in 

 48 hours. Rabbits die when a large quantity is injected into 

 the circulation. The blood and juices have a peculiar stringy, 

 fibrinous consistence. 



Bacillus of Influenza. (Pfeiffer.) 



A small bacillus about one-half the size of the bacillus of mouse 

 septicaemia, and arranged in chain-form, is believed to be the 

 cause of influenza. It develops upon blood-serum agar. It is 

 aerobic. Without movement ; does not take the gram stain. It 

 is best stained with diluted carbol-fuchsiu, the contrast-stain 

 being Loffler's methylene-blue. It is found in the sputum and 

 in the bronchial and nasal secretions of influenza patients. 



Micro-Organisms of Suppuration. The suppuration of wounds 

 is due to the presence of germs. The knowledge of this fact is 

 the basis of the antiseptic treatment in surgery ; for when the 

 microbes can be destroyed or their entrance prevented, the 



