SAPROPHYTIC MICROCOCCI. 21? 



on exclusion of air at the bottom of nutrient agar, the 

 growth being accompanied by the development of gas 

 and foul smell. 



Micrococci of Putrefaction. 



Besides the forms already mentioned there are pro- 

 bably a number of micrococci which play some part in 

 the ordinary processes of putrefaction. At the com- 

 mencement of putrefaction more especially, and also 

 when it occurs at a moderate temperature, micrococci of 

 varying size and arrangement are always observed in 

 enormous numbers in the substrata ; they multiply 

 actively for some time, and must exert some preparatory 

 or direct action. Isolation of these organisms, and the 

 determination of their special action and the part they 

 play in the process of putrefaction, must be the subject 



Fig. 58A. Micrococci of various sizes Fig. 58s. Micrococci 

 from putrefying blood X 700. arranged in tetrads 



X 700. 



of subsequent investigations. Fig. 58A shows some of 

 these micrococcus forms from blood which had stood 

 for 4 days at about 10 C. ; fig. 58B shows micrococci 

 arranged in fours which had developed in wound secre- 

 tions in man (both after Koch). 



Some saprophytes are of interest to us because they 

 are frequently found as accidental colonists on the jelly 

 plates and on other nutritive substances ; they are evi- 

 dently very widely distributed in our surroundings, and 

 can enter the cultivations from the air or by contact 

 with a great variety of substances. Hence the forms 

 described here represent only a small selection from the 

 micrococci which have been met with in the Laboratory 

 at Gottingen. A more complete description will shortly 

 be published in another place. 



