LECTURE III. 



IN 1879 Neisser made the assertion, based upon nu- 

 merous examinations, that there is present in the 

 purulent discharge of gonorrhoea, whether from urethra, 

 vagina, or conjunctiva, a micrococcus not found in other 

 pus, distinguished by its size, shape, and mode of repro- 

 duction. Neisser's previous work entitled this assertion 

 to respectful consideration, and it was at once subjected 

 to extensive tests. The reports have been, with one ex- 

 ception, unanimous in corroborating Neisser's assertion 

 in all its details. I may mention especially Ehrlich, a 

 most expert and experienced, yet conservative and trust- 

 worthy observer ; Gaffky, a pupil and present assistant 

 of Koch ; Aufrecht, of Magdeburg ; Loffler, Leistikow, 

 Bockhart, Krause ; and among the ophthalmologists, 

 Leber, Sattler, and Hirschberg. The only dissenter, so 

 far as I know, is Dr. Sternberg, who asserts that this 

 micrococcus form is widely distributed, and is, in fact, 

 the same as that which Pasteur has shown to cause fer- 

 mentation of urea. 



Several attempts have been made to inoculate human 

 subjects since animals are not susceptible to the con- 

 tagion with the isolated micrococci. Bokai, in Pesth, 

 asserts the induction of urethral gonorrhoea in three out 

 of six students so inoculated ; but as he neglected to 

 keep them in solitary confinement during the trial, the 

 experiment is not so convincing as it might be. Bock- 

 hart, having cultivated the organisms on gelatine, in- 

 oculated with the fourth culture a paralytic hospital pa- 

 tient, and observed a typical gonorrhoea on the sixth day. 

 Sternberg cultivated micrococci from gonorrhceal pus in 

 flasks, and observed only negative results in each of five 

 patients inoculated therewith. Thus far, therefore, it is 

 not decisively established that the bacterium associated 

 with gonorrhoea is the cause of the disease. Dr. Stern- 



