460 APPLICATION OF METHODS OF BACTERIOLOGY 



The disease occasionally occurs in man, and according to the 

 point of entrance of the parasite may arise in the mouth, the 

 pharynx, the lungs, the intestines, or the skin. In animals 

 the disease is characterized by an excessive new forma- 

 tion of connective tissue, so that tumefaction is always a 

 conspicuous peculiarity. In man, on the other hand, 

 suppuration is the most prominent feature. 



If the purulent discharge from an actinomycotic tumor 

 be examined fresh, it will be found to contain tiny yellow 



FIG. 79 



Actinomycosis fungus in pus. Fresh, unstained preparation. Magnified 

 about 500 diameters. 



(sulphur color as a rule) clumps. If these be examined, 

 unstained, in a drop of physiological salt solution or water 

 under the microscope, they will be found to be made up of 

 a rosette-like mass of closely interwoven threads. (See 

 Fig. 77.) At the center the mass may show the presence of 

 spherical, coccus-like bodies or granules, while at the per- 

 iphery the free ends of the threads are more or less distinctly 

 bulbous or nodular, or both, and they may show branching. 

 Sometimes the free ends of the threads are only slightly or 

 not at all swollen. 



