DIFFERENT KINDS OF PUS-MICROBES. 81 



Description of the Different Kinds of Pus-microbes. 



1. STAPHYLOCOCCUS PYOGENES AUREUS is the pus-microbe 

 most frequently present in acute abscesses. Cocci singly, or aggre- 

 gated in masses. It grows readily upon gelatin, agar-agar, coagu- 

 lated blood-serum, and potato. It possesses the property of 

 liquefying gelatin. It grows readily at the ordinary temperature, 

 but more rapidly when the temperature is not less than 30 C. 

 (86 F.), and does not exceed that of the normal temperature of 

 the body. It peptouizes albumen and coagulates milk. The cul- 

 ture grows in the track of the needle and upon the surface of the 

 nutrient medium. The culture presents a gold-yellow appearance. 



Liibbert (" Biologische Spaltpilzuntersuchung. Der Staphylo- 

 coccus pyogenes aureus und der Osteomyelitis-coccus." Wiirz- 

 burg, 1886) has made an extended and thorough study of this 

 microbe. It was examined in reference to its behavior to light, 

 temperature, and the various culture substances. Kreatin was 

 found to be its simplest nitrogenous nutrient material. Carbonic 

 acid arrests its growth, while oxygen not only favored its growth, 

 but also accelerated the production of the orange-yellow pigment 

 material which distinguishes it from the other staphylococci. Milk 

 rendered sour by the addition of a pure culture of this microbe, 

 and tested with the salts of barium, snowed the presence of methyl- 

 alcohol, lactic and butyric acids. It was ascertained that it pro- 

 duced carbonic acid and absorbed oxygen. Corrosive sublimate, 

 1:81400, and thymol, 1:1100, arrested its growth. A dried 

 culture, exposed for an hour to a temperature of 86 C. (176 F.), 

 was rendered completely sterile. Its pathogenic properties were 

 found greatest in cultures made directly from the diseased tissues, 

 while its virulence diminished through successive cultures. A cul- 

 ture, attenuated in this manner, again regained its virulence by 

 being passed through the animal body. Large quantities of this 

 microbe injected into the subcutaneous tissue of rabbits produced 

 a general infection, the kidneys and muscles of the heart being the 

 organs first attacked. If injected into the knee-joint of a dog sup- 

 puration occurred, followed by disintegration of the joint. It is 

 identical with the organism which has been described in acute 

 osteomyelitis, and at first supposed to be the specific organism of 

 that disease. 



2. STAPHYLOCOCCUS PYOGENES ALBUS. Same as aureus, but 

 produces no pigment, Both Passet and Klebs have observed in 

 the white culture of this coccus small yellow dots, which, when 

 isolated, lost their color. These authors, therefore, consider the 

 yellow and white staphylococcus as varieties of the same kind. Its 

 pathogenic properties, both in man and animals, are somewhat less 



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