vii.] MICROCOCCUS. 71 



2. Micrococcus erysipelatosus. The micrococcus is very 

 rr.iaute, smaller than that of vaccinia. Lukomsky * showed 

 that, at the margin of an erysipelatous zone, that is the part 

 where the disease is progressing and marked by the character- 

 istic redness and swelling, the lymphatics of the skin are 

 filled with zooglcea of micrococci, and the injection of these 

 vessels keeps pace with the progress of the erysipelatous 

 process. Orth 2 cultivated these micrococci artificially, and 

 with such cultures produced by inoculation erysipelas in 

 rabbits. Fehleisen 3 placed this beyond any doubt, inasmuch 

 as he produced successive cultures of these micrococci 

 (derived from the lymphatics of erysipelatous human skin), 

 and then by re-inoculation produced the disease not only in 

 rabbits but also in man. Fehleisen found the micrococci 

 only in the lymphatics of the affected parts, and these he 

 cultivated artificially for fourteen generations which it took 

 two months to do on peptonised meat-extract gelatine, and 

 solid serum. The micrococci form a whitish film on the top 

 of the nourishing material, and when inoculated into the skin 

 (ear) of rabbits, a characteristic erysipelatous rash makes its 

 appearance after from thirty-six to forty-eight hours, and 

 spreads to the root of the ear, and further on to the head 

 and neck. The animals do not, however, die from it. In 

 the human subject he produced typical erysipelas after 

 inoculation with the pure cultivated micrococcus in fifteen 

 to sixty hours. These inoculations were justifiable because 

 they were undertaken with a view to cure certain tumours. 

 Thus one case of lupus, one case of cancer, one case of 

 sarcoma, were considerably affected, and to the good of the 

 patient. 



1 Virchow's Arckiv, vol. 60. 



2 Archivj. exp. Path. Bd. i. 1874. 



3 Die Aetiologu d. Erysipels, Berlin, 1883. 



