LESIONS IN THE HUMAN SUBJECT. 193 



Lesions in the Human Subject. The following statement 

 may be made with regard to the occurrence of the chief organ- 

 isms mentioned, in the various suppurative and inflammatory 

 conditions in the human subject. The account is, however, by 

 no means exhaustive, as clinical bacteriology has shown that 

 practically every part of the body may be the site of a lesion 

 produced by the pyogenic bacteria. It may also be noted that 

 acute catarrhal conditions of cavities or tubes are in many cases 

 also to be ascribed to their presence. 



The staphylococci are the most common causal agents in 

 localised abscesses, in pustules on the skin, in carbuncles, boils, 

 etc., in acute suppurative periostitis, in catarrhs of mucous sur- 

 faces, in ulcerative endocarditis, and in various pyaemic condi- 

 tions. They may also be present in septicaemia. 



Streptococci are especially found in spreading inflammation 

 with or without suppuration ; in diffuse phlegmonous and ery- 

 sipelatous conditions, suppurations in serous membranes and in 

 joints (Fig. 72). They also occur in acute suppurative periostitis 

 and ulcerative endocarditis. 

 Secondary abscesses in lym- 

 phatic glands and lymphangitis 

 are also, we believe, more fre- 

 quently caused by streptococci 

 than staphylococci. They also 

 produce fibrinous exudation on 

 the mucous surfaces, leading 

 to the formation of false mem- 

 brane in many of the cases of 

 non-diphtheritic inflammation 

 of the throat, which are met 

 with in scarlatina 1 and other FIG. 72. streptococci in acute suppu- 



COllditions, and they are also ration - Corrosive film; stained by Gram's 



method and safranin. X 1000. 



the organisms most frequently 



present in acute catarrhal inflammations of this situation. In 

 puerperal peritonitis they are frequently found in a condition of 

 purity, and they also appear to be the most frequent cause of 

 puerperal septicaemia, in which condition they may be found 

 after death in the capillaries of various organs. In pyaemia 



1 True diphtheria may also occasionally be associated with this disease, usually 

 as a sequel, 

 o 



