576 BACTERIA OF THE SURFACE OF THE BODY 



found to contain an immense number of bacteria of various forms. 

 Some of these are attached to epithelial cells and some scattered about 

 singly or in groups. Among those seen in a single specimen we will 

 usually find cocci in tetrads, in chains, and in irregular groups, 

 bacilli of various dimensions, and occasionally spirilla. According 

 to Prof. Miller, of Berlin, the following species "almost inva- 

 riably occur in every mouth : Leptothrix innominata, Bacillus 

 buccalis maximus, Leptothrix buccalis maxima, lodococcus vagina- 

 tus, Spirillum sputigenum, SpirochaBte dentium. All of these fail 

 to grow in ordinary culture media. Miller has made extended at- 

 tempts to obtain cultures by varying the medium used and attempt- 

 ing to imitate as nearly as possible the natural medium in which they 

 are found ; but his attempts have been unsuccessful, or nearly so 

 " only line cultures afforded a limited growth, but the colonies never 

 developed more than fifteen to twenty cells, and a transference to a 

 second plate proved futile, no further growth taking place/' 



Up to the year 1885 Miller had isolated twenty -two different spe- 

 cies of bacteria from the human mouth. Ten of these were cocci, 

 five short bacilli, six long bacilli, and one a spirillum. Later the 

 same author cultivated eight additional species. Vignal has iso- 

 lated and described seventeen species obtained by him in pure cul- 

 tures from the healthy human mouth ; most of these are bacilli, 

 and Miller, who found micrococci to be more numerous, supposes 

 the difference in results to be due to the fact that many of the cocci 

 do not grow in nutrient gelatin, which was the medium employed 

 by Vignal. In the researches of the last-named author the follow- 

 ing species were obtained most frequently, in the order given : 

 1. Bacterium termo. 2. Bacillus e (Bacillus ulna ?). 3. Potato ba- 

 cillus. 4. Coccus a. 5. Bacillus b. 6. Bacillus d. 7. Bacillus c 

 (Bacillus alvei ?). 8. Bacillus subtilis. 9. Staphylococcus pyogenes 

 albus. 10. Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus. 



Among the species above enumerated we find two of the most 

 common pus cocci, Staphylococcus albus and aureus, but no mention 

 is made of another important pathogenic micrococcus which is fre- 

 quently found in the healthy human mouth, viz. , the micrococcus of 

 sputum septicaemia, first named by the writer Micrococcus Pasteuri. 

 This does not grow at ordinary temperatures, and consequently 

 would not be obtained in gelatin plate cultures. Very different re- 

 sults have been reported by different observers as to the frequency 

 with which these pathogenic cocci are found in the buccal cavity. 

 Black found in the saliva of ten healthy individuals the Staphy- 

 lococcus pyogenes aureus seven times, Staphylococcus pyogenes al- 

 bus four times, and Streptococcus pypgenes three times. On the 

 other hand, Netter found Staphj'lococcus aureus only seven times in 



