284 BACTERIA IN CROUPOUS PNEUMONIA. 



Pasteuri in seventy-five per cent of his cases of pneumonia, and in the sputum 

 of convalescents from this disease its presence was verified in sixty per cent 

 of the cases by inoculation experiments in rabbits. He makes the interest- 

 ing observation that the sputum of recent convalescents is less virulent for 

 rabbits than that collected at a later period. 



Gameleia, who has recently published in the Annales of the Pasteur 

 Institute an important paper upon the etiology of fibrinous pneumonia, veri- 

 fied the presence of Micrococcus Pasteuri in twelve fatal cases in which he 

 collected material post mortem. He states that in a series of forty con- 

 secutive cases Dr. Goldenberg, whose experiments were made in his laboratory, 

 found this micrococcus in every case by inoculation experiments in rabbits or 

 in mice. According to Gameleia, inoculations in mice are more reliable than 

 those made in rabbits, as the mouse is the more susceptible animal. He says: 

 "The author, Weichselbaum, who has made the most extended research 

 upon the etiology of pneumonia, used in his researches the method of culti- 

 vation upon gelatin. We must adopt the opinion of Baumgarten, who does 

 not accord any decided value to the negative results of Weichselbaum with 

 reference to the constant presence of Streptococcus Pasteuri. Netter, who 

 adopted the method of inoculating the pneumonic sputum into rabbits, and 

 who only found the microbe of Pasteur in seventy-five per cent of his cases, 

 was wrong, in our opinion, in making use of an animal which is too resist- 

 ant to determine the presence of small quantities of virus. This opinion is 

 confirmed by the fact that Netter rendered some rabbits refractory by his 

 inoculations with material in which he had not found the specific 

 microbe. 



" En resume, taking our stand upon the positive results which we have 

 always obtained, as well as upon the superiority of the method of research 

 (inoculations in mice) which we have adopted, we believe ourselves au- 

 thorized to conclude that fibrinous pneumonia is always dependent upon 

 the microbe of Pasteur." 



Friinkel, Weichselbaum, and other recent authors, while maintaining 

 that Micrococcus Pasteuri is the most frequent etiological agent in the pro- 

 duction of pneumonia, have been disposed to admit that in a certain propor- 

 tion of the cases the bacillus of Friedlander, and possibly other microorgan- 

 isms, may bear the same relation to the pneumonic process. Gameleia, on 

 the other hand, believes that the bacillus of Friedlander is a simple sapro- 

 phyte, the occasional presence of which in pneumonic exudate is without 

 etiological import. He remarks as follows : 



" We may be brief as regards the second objection made against the etio- 

 logical unity of fibrinous pneumonia, viz., with reference to the etiological 

 rights of the microbe of Friedlander. This microbe is found in normal sali- 

 va, it is a true saprophyte, and may at times invade the diseased or dead 

 lung. Weichselbaum only found it in seven per cent of his cases, and al- 

 most always associated with other microbes, for he only encountered it pure 

 in three cases. As to the researches of the authors who preceded Frankel, 

 it is sure that the microbe which they often found in sections of diseased 

 lungs, and which they called the microbe of Friedlander, was in fact the mi- 

 crobe of Pasteur, since it was colored by the method of Gram, which decol- 

 orizes the bacillus of Friedlander. Many of the positive results, then, 

 which have been reported relative to the last-mentioned microorganism, 

 ought to be put to the account of the other." 



This opinion the present writer has entertained since his researches made 

 in 1885. 



The experimental evidence offered by Gameleia in favor of the etiologi- 

 cal role of this micrococcus is most important. 



It will be remembered that Talamon produced typical pneumonia in 

 eight rabbits, in 1883, by inoculating them through the thoracic walls with 

 pneumonic exudate. Gameleia says: 



" The number of my rabbits iu which pneumonia was induced is about 

 two hundred." 



