FARCIN DU BOEUF 203 



Cultures. On gelatine plates it produces yellowish-gray colo- 

 nies that are very small. These grow into the gelatine, slowly lique- 

 fying it. The colonies are very tough and fibrous. In agar tubes it 

 grows very slowly, the first growth being like dew-drops; later these 

 enlarge, turning yellow, and finally brown. The culture grows 

 down into the agar, and the medium darkens. Old cultures are dark 

 and crumbly looking, adhere firmly to the agar, and have a downy 

 dust-like covering. On blood serum the colonies appear as dew- 

 drops, which later become brownish, then, yellowish-orange, or 

 brick-red. In bouillon the growth is at the bottom in ball-like 

 masses, that firmly cohere. Clubs do not form in this medium. 

 The supernatant bouillon is clear, with no surface growth. In 

 milk it produces no chemical change. On potato it grows in 

 knot-like colonies. 



Pathogenesis. Causes in cattle the disease known as "lumpy 

 jaw." The fungus reaches the jaw from the teeth and gums, the 

 latter first being injured by sharp spines in the food. In man, the 

 internal organs, lungs, intestines, and, rarely, the brain become 

 infected. The liver often is abscessed. In both cattle and man 

 universal actinomycosis sometimes occurs. It is hard to inoculate 

 laboratory animals with the disease, though Wright succeeded in 

 so doing. The lesions produced are rather massive at times; the 

 nidus is often surrounded by enormous numbers of polynuclear 

 leucocytes, which, no doubt, play a defensive role in the tissues. 

 The disease is often fatal to cattle and to man. 



FARCIN DU BOEUF. 



Actinomyces Farcinicus. 



Bacillus du farcin du Boeuf. Nocard. 



Morphology and Stains. Segmented threads with true branch- 

 ing, short and knotty, or long and delicate. Contains spores, is not 

 motile, and has no flagella. It stains with all the ordinary aniline 

 dyes, and by Weigert-Gram method. Ziehl's method stains it well. 

 It is often seen as tangled masses of threads. 



