THE MICROBES OF HUMAN DISEASES. 221 



minute, remain on the surface of the false membranes, 

 more rarely within them, and on the surface of the 

 inflamed mucous membrane. 



Loffler undertook experiments in culture and 

 inoculation which confirm Klebs' opinion. He suc- 

 ceeded in isolating and cultivating separately the 

 Microsporon, or inicrococcus, and the bacillus, which 

 makes it probable that these are two distinct species. 

 The chaplets of micrococci, cultivated separately and 

 used to inoculate animals, do not produce diphtheria ; 

 the bacilli, on the other hand, cause the formation of 

 false membranes, but do not exactly reproduce the 

 diphtheria of the human subject. 



Cornil and Babes have likewise studied these two 

 forms of microbes. They have ascertained that the 

 bacilli are more generally found in the false mem- 

 branes of the skin, and the micrococci in those of the 

 throat and larynx. But in almost all cases they have 

 found bacilli, zoogloea, and chaplets of micrococci 

 associated together in the false membranes, even in 

 those of the skin, and bacilli in those of the throat. 



Cornil and Me'gnin have studied the spontaneous 

 diphtheria of poultry and domestic quadrupeds. The 

 anatomical lesions and the form of the microbes 

 approximate to those of human diphtheria, and cases 

 of contagion between the calf and man have been 

 observed. Yet direct inoculation has failed, so that it 

 is still impossible to affirm the identity of the two 



