88 SUPPURATION. 



some disinfecting agents are, it appears, not always free from 

 microbes. 



4. As causes of suppuration the following microbes can be 

 enumerated : staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, albus, and citreus ; 

 streptococcus pyogeues, and, in foul abscesses, also the bacillus 

 pyogenes foetid us. 



5. Inoculations with staphylococcus and streptococcus have, 

 when injected in large quantities, produced local suppuration, or 

 death by general infection. 



6. The pus-microbes must, in the face of the frequent occurrence 

 of suppuration, have a wide diffusion through nature. 



7. Pus-microbes can enter the organism through the respiratory 

 passages, the intestinal canal, and skin. Entrance is most fre- 

 quently effected through the skin. 



8. The staphylococcus and streptococcus are found most fre- 

 quently in pus. 



The same writer to show the frequency of occurrence of the dif- 

 ferent kinds of pus-microbes, has tabulated from different sources 

 495 abscesses, and he states that the staphylococcus was present in 

 71 per cent., the streptococcus in 16 per cent., these two microbes 

 together, in 5.5 per cent., and the remaining pyogenic microbes 

 only exceptionally. 



Tricomi ("Referat," Berl Mm. Woehenschrift, Jan. 23, 1888) 

 made a bacteriological examination of 80 acute abscesses, 8 phleg- 

 monous inflammations, and 5 furuncles, and never failed in finding 

 the microbes of suppuration. He makes no distinction between 

 the streptococcus and staphylococcus and includes both forms 

 under the term micrococcus pyogenes. His own experiments on 

 mice, rabbits, and guinea-pigs have led him to the opinion that 

 pus-microbes have a specific destructive action on the connective 

 tissue, and he asserts that their pathogenic action is limited to this 

 tissue. The results of his observations on animals he applies to 

 human pathology, and attempts to establish the fact that, in the 

 formation of abscesses in the internal organs, destructive processes 

 must precede and prepare the soil for the microbes. 



He does not believe that indifferent and chemical substances, 

 mycotically pure, can cause suppuration. 



Watson Cheyne, in his admirable lectures on suppuration, puts 

 himself on record as believing that no aseptic substances or chem- 

 ical irritants ever cause suppuration. He affirms that the product 

 of inflammation which accumulates at the point of implantation or 

 infection in such cases is not true pus, but a putty-like substance 

 which is more consistent than pus from the absence of ptomaines. 

 He asserts that for the formation of a true abscess we require the 

 peptonizing ferment produced by the microorganisms, or, at any 



