178 SUPPURATION. 



to the exciting cause in all cases of purulent inflammations 

 of the urethra and vagina. The condition may be due to 

 one of these germs and not to the gonococcus. 



Diplococcus Intracellularis Meningitidis. 



Meningitis may be due to a variety of organisms. There 

 are streptococcus meningitis, tubercular meningitis, pneu- 

 mococcus meningitis, and a form which is caused by a specific 

 germ, the Diplococcus intracellularis meningitidis. The three 

 varieties first mentioned are usually secondary to disease in 

 some other part of the body ; whereas the last is a primary 



FIG. 76. 



Diplococcus intracellularis meningitidis. X 1100. (Park.) 



seropurulent inflammation of the meninges of the brain and 

 cord, which was first described by Weichselbaum in 1887. 

 This meningococcus is the specific cause of epidemic cerebro- 

 spinal meningitis, and is of special interest because of its 

 resemblance to the pneumococcus and the gonococcus. 



Biology and morphology: In form it is a diplococcus of the 

 same shape as the gonococcus, and it is also enclosed within 

 the leucocytes and tissue-cells (Fig. 76). Occasionally it is 

 seen to occur singly or, like the gonococcus, in tetrads or 



