382 BACTERIOLOGY. 



the causative fungus, has led to the belief that the par- 

 asite gains access to the tissues with such food-stuffs. It 

 has not, however, been recognized outside the animal body. 

 The disease is apparently not transmissible from animal 

 to animal or from animal to man. Inoculation of ani- 

 mals with pure cultures is usually negative, although 

 nodular formations have followed the injection of large 

 quantities into the peritoneal cavity of rabbits. In 

 Bostrom's cases the nodules presented only a few of the 

 club-shaped extremities of the threads, and there was 

 no evidence of multiplication of the fungus ; while in 

 the experiments of Israel and Wolf it is said there 

 developed, in from four to seven weeks after intraperi- 

 toneal inoculation, larger and smaller tumors in which 

 typical mycelia were present, and from which the fungus 

 was obtained in pure culture. 



ACTINOMYCES MADURA. This organism is sup- 

 posed to be concerned in the causation of mycetoma or 

 Madura foot. Two varieties of mycetoma are known, 

 viz., the pale or ochroid and the black or melanoid. 

 Save for its occurrence in the foot, mycetoma is, patho- 

 logically speaking, almost a counterpart of actinomy- 

 cosis; and the suspicion of their identity is by no 

 means lessened by the fact that the actinomyces con- 

 stantly associated with the ochroid variety is to all 

 intents and purposes identical with actinomyces bovis. 

 It differs from that organism only in such minor details 

 as to leave little doubt that they are very closely related, 

 if not identical, so that a description of the one serves 

 equally to aid in the identification of the other. 



The investigations of Wright, 1 conducted upon a case 



1 Wright : " A Case of Mycetoma (Madura Foot)," Journal of Experi- 

 mental Medicine, 1898, vol. iii., p. 421. 



