34 SOURCES OF INFECTION. 



gischer Krankenzimmer," Langenbeck's Archiv, B. xxxv. Heft 1) 

 made a series of experiments for the purpose of ascertaining the 

 presence of pathogenic microorganisms in the air of hospital wards 

 occupied by surgical patients. By exposing for a certain length of 

 time glass plates coated with sterilized gelatine or agar-agar in a 

 room occupied by four cases of erysipelas, twice colonies of cocci 

 were found, which, however, grew only to a limited extent. Inocu- 

 lation upon agar-agar and gelatine as well as upon solid blood- 

 serum showed that the new growth was composed of Fehleisen's 

 streptococcus. Its identity with the microbe of erysipelas was 

 further demonstrated by inoculation experiments which proved 

 successful. In another room containing surgical patients, where all 

 the wounds were aseptic, a growth of the staphylococcus pyogenes 

 aureus developed upon culture plates. From erysipelatous patients 

 during the stage of desquamatiou, he inoculated sterilized gelatin 

 with epidermic scales, and in four out of five cases the specific 

 microbe of erysipelas was cultivated. 



At the last Congress of Italian Surgeons, Durante reported 

 experiments, performed at his suggestion, by his assistant, to deter- 

 mine the presence of germs in the air about the bed of a surgical 

 patient, and in a ward. It was found that the greatest number of 

 germs were present about forty inches above the border of the bed ; 

 in all other directions the number of germs greatly decreased. 

 Culture materials placed beneath the bed, and about the bottoms of 

 the neighboring walls, remained frequently sterile. The germs 

 most frequently found were staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, strep- 

 tococcus of erysipelas, and FrankePs pneumococcus. (Deutsche meet. 

 Wochenschrift, May 3, 1888.) 



Wehde investigated the in factiousness of air in rooms occupied 

 by phthisical patients by exposing plates smeared with glycerin, 

 and with the dust thus collected he inoculated guinea-pigs ; the 

 results were negative. From these experiments he concluded that 

 the air expired by tubercular persons does not contain the bacillus, 

 and that tubercular sputum, as long as it remains moist, does not 

 emit microbes. Similar results have been obtained by Celli and 

 Guaruieri, Sirena, Pern ice, and Nicolas. On the other hand, 

 Theodore Williams (Lancet, 1883), by resorting to the same 

 method, and exposing the plates to the current of air in one of the 

 ventilating shafts in the Brompton Hospital for five days, demon- 

 strated the presence of tubercle bacilli upon the glycerin plates. 

 The most recent and reliable experiments on the existence of tuber- 

 cle bacilli in hospitals and sick-rooms have been made by Cornet, 

 in Koch's Hygienic Institute, his method consisting in wiping the 

 Avails of wards and sick-rooms at places where the dust had been 

 left undisturbed for a long time, with a sterilized sponge, and 



