BLASTOMYCOSIS 



545 



organisms in the urine 

 organisms in the tissues 

 corresponded to those 

 seen in cultures. In 

 the conditions about to 

 be described, and of 

 which we have had no 

 personal experience, 

 difficulties present 

 themselves in that the 

 supposed causal agent 

 appears in the tissues 

 in the form of a peculiar 

 round double-contoured 

 cell (Fig. 172) not ex- 

 actly reproducible in 

 artificial cultures. The 

 appearances of these 

 cells are rather sugges- 

 tive of protozoal charac- 

 teristics and, while a 

 mycelial formation is stated 



In this case the appearances of the 



FlG. 171. Growth of blastomyces in kidney 

 of rabbit infected from human case (see text), 

 x 1000. 



to 



have been observed to originate 

 from them, we consider 

 that 'their nature is not 

 yet fully elucidated. 

 They have been observed 

 ^ in two disease manifesta- 

 tions which we may now 

 describe. The first of 

 these is the blastomy- 

 cetic dermatitis, widely 

 studied in America and 

 especially in Chicago. 

 The disease may arise 

 in any part of the skin 

 and frequently follows 

 a slight wound. The 

 development of a slug- 

 gish papule, becoming 

 pustular and ulcerative, 

 is followed by a slowly 

 extending granular and 



1 For the tissue from which this preparation was made we are indebted to 

 Dr. Rixford. 



35 



FIG. 172. Double-contoured bodies in tissues 

 from one of Rixford and Gilchrist's cases. 

 xSCO. 1 



