102 SUPPUKATION. 



1884, Xos. 7, 8) cultivated from osteomyelitic pus the stapbylococcus 

 pyogenes aureus aud albus, which he also found in the effusion iu 

 joints, when this occurred as a complication of the disease. Injec- 

 tion of a pure culture of these cocci into the peritoneal cavity of 

 animals caused suppurative peritonitis. Intravenous injections, 

 with or without previous fracture, were followed most frequently 

 by suppuration in joints and muscles. If a bone was fractured 

 subcutaneously before the injection, he frequently observed suppu- 

 ration at the seat of fracture, and from the pus the staphylococcus 

 could again be cultivated. Foci in the kidneys were always present 

 in all of these experiments. 



Garre ("Zur Aetiologieacuteitriger Entziinduugen," Fortscliritte 

 der Jle<iicm,1885, p. 165) corroborated by his own experimental 

 work the observations made by Rosenbach, and, in addition, he 

 showed that in acute suppurative osteomyelitis the staphylococcus 

 is also present in the blood. 



Miiller (" Die acute Osteomyelitis der Geleukgebiete," Deutsche 

 Zeitschrift /. Chirurgie, B. xxi. Hefte 5 u. 6) succeeded in cultivating 

 the staphylococcus pyogenes aureus from the yellow granulations iu 

 cases of acute epiphysary osteomyelitis. 



Rodet's (" Etude experimentelle sur P osteomyelite iufectieuse," 

 Compt. rend., 1884, No. 14) researches deserve special mention, as he 

 succeeded in producing suppurative osteomyelitis in animals without 

 inflicting a trauma before or after the infection. This result could 

 only be obtained by resorting to intravenous injections. The puru- 

 lent inflammation, which was generally circumscribed, was usually 

 located near the epiphysis ; it seldom extended over a considerable 

 portion of the shaft. In many cases epiphyseolysis occurred, and 

 very frequently a suppurative arthritis of the adjacent joint. In 

 the most acute cases, the animals died within twenty- four hours 

 without any appreciable changes in the bones. The detection of 

 the microbes in the blood was the most difficult ; they were found 

 most readily in the kidneys, in which often multiple abscesses were 

 found. Subcutaneous inoculation resulted in local suppuration ; 

 osteomyelitis could not be produced in this manner. Young ani- 

 mals were more susceptible to inoculations. According to Rodet, 

 the osteomyelitic cultures lose their virulence after thirty to forty 

 days. In one of his experiments, which he details very minutely, 

 he employed a culture of the thirteenth generation, and produced 

 epiphyseal osteomyelitis of both femora, of one tibia, and of one 

 humerus. As the result of his observations, he locates as the 

 primary seat of osteomyelitis of the long bones the medulla in close 

 proximity to the epiphyseal line. When separation of the epiphy- 

 sis was observed, the pathological fracture always occurred on the 

 side of the diaphysis. 



