62 PA THOGENIC BA CTERIA . 



were forced. My own investigations have shown viru- 

 lent staphylococci of suppuration upon the conjunctivae 

 in health. It is very improbable that the bacteria habit- 

 ually present upon the skin, and ready to enter the least 

 abrasion, can penetrate the outer coverings of the body, 

 except when disease or accident has rendered them 

 abnormally thin or macerated. 



Turro seems to have shown that the gonococcus can 

 enter the tissues without any pre-existing lesion, for he 

 asserts that if a virulent culture simply be touched to 

 the meatus urinarius, the disease will be established. 



(d) Wounds. The results of the entrance of bacteria 

 into unprotected wounds are now so familiar that no 

 one deserving of the name of surgeon dares to allow a 

 wound to go undressed. 



(e) The Placenta. Very frequently the occurrence of 

 specific diseases during pregnancy causes abortion of 

 the product of conception. In certain cases the specific 

 contagion passes through the placenta and infects the 

 fetus. This has been pretty clearly demonstrated for 

 variola, malaria, syphilis, measles, anthrax, symptomatic 

 anthrax, glanders, relapsing fever, typhoid, and in rare 

 cases for tuberculosis. 



Anche found streptococci and staphylococci in the tis- 

 sues of aborted foeti in cases of variola. 1 Except in the 

 case of wounds, it must be observed that, although the 

 bacteria are in the body/. <?., respiratory, digestive, or 

 sexual apparatus, etc. they are still not in the blood, and 

 really not in, but only upon the surfaces of the tissues. 



For their actual entrance into the circulation, Kruse 2 

 gives the following possible modes: 



1. Passive entrance of the bacteria through the sto- 

 mata of the vessels where the pressure of the inflammatory 

 exudate is greater than the intravascular pressure. 



2. Entrance of the bacteria into the vessel in the body 

 of leucocytes that have incorporated them. 



1 La Semaine Mid., 1892, No. 6l. 

 Fltigge's Mikroorganismen. 



