THE STREPTOCOCCUS PJOGENES. 247 



in the same way ? Do these streptococci flourish readily 

 on ordinary media? 



The organisms that have just been described are com- 

 monly known as the " pyogenic cocci " of Ogston, 

 Rosen bach, and Passet, and up to as late as 1885 were 

 believed to be the specific factors concerned in the pro- 

 duction of suppurative inflammations. Since that time, 

 however, considerable modification of this view has 

 taken place, and while they are still known to be the 

 most common causes of suppuration, they are also known 

 not to be the only causes of this process. 



With the more general application of bacteriological 

 methods to the study of the manifold conditions coming 

 under the eye of the physician, the surgeon, and the 

 pathologist, observations are constantly being made that 

 do not accord with the view formerly held with regard 

 to the specific relation of the pyogeuic cocci to all forms 

 of suppuration. There is an abundance of evidence 

 now at command to justify the opinion that there are a 

 number of organisms not commonly classed as pyogenic 

 which may, under peculiar circumstances, assume this 

 property. For example : 



The bacillus of typhoid fever has been found in pure 

 culture in osteomyelitis of the ribs ; in acute purulent 

 otitis media ; in abscess of the soft parts ; in the pus of 

 empyema, and in localized fibro-peritonitis, either during 

 its course or as a sequela of typhoid fever. 



The bacterium coli commune has been found to be 

 present in pure culture in acute peritonitis; in liver 

 abscess ; in purulent inflammation of the gall-bladder 

 and ducts ; in appendicitis ; and Welch 1 has found it in 



1 Welch: "Conditions Underlying the Infection of Wounds," American 

 Journal of the Medical Sciences, November, 1891. 



