596 



THE STREPTOCOCCI OF MAN 



In blood and pus the individual cocci measure O6-1//, in diameter, but in 

 cultures their size is subject to considerable variation : they occasionally 

 assume a somewhat oval shape. 



The number of cocci in the chains varies. Thus, in a typical streptococcus 

 (Streptococcus erysipelatos of Fehleisen, Streptococcus pyogene* of Rosenbach) 

 the chains, as seen in preparations from blood and pus or from a culture on 

 a solid medium, will be found to consist of six to fifteen cocci ; but when the 

 same organism is grown on a liquid medium the chains will show as many 

 as fifteen to forty and more cocci. 



FIG. 280. Streptococcal chains composed of 

 very small cocci. 



FIG. 281. Diplococcal streptococci. 



FIG. 282. Streptococcus conglomeratus. 



FIG. 283. Very long chains. 



FIGS. 280-283. Various forms of streptococci. 

 (Oc. 2, obj. -^th, Zeiss.) 



Carbol-fuchsin. 



Classification on morphological grounds. Nothing is more variable than 

 the number and even the shape of the cocci forming a streptococcus chain : 

 and hence several types of streptococci have been described (figs. 280 to 283). 



The streptococcus tennis of Veillon, found in some cases of sore throat, consists 

 of short chains of two to six very small oval cocci. The streptococcus brevis of von 

 Ldngelsheim, found in the saliva in some cases of pseudo-membranous inflammation 

 of the throat and also sometimes in pus, is a streptococcus in which the cocci are 

 arranged as diplococci or as chains of four to six diplococci. [The streptococcus 

 longus (von Lingelsheim) consists of long chains, and includes most of the strains 

 virulent for man.] The streptococcus conglomeratus, which Kurth considered to 



