EFFECT OF ACTINOMYCES ON THE TISSUES. 217 



the head of a pin to a hazeluut were found distributed over a con- 

 siderable surface, each of them showing the typical histological 

 structure of actinomycosis. The transplanted piece of tissue was 

 found perfectly encapsulated in one of the nodules the size of a bean. 

 As the fungus was found in all the nodules it is only reasonable to 

 conclude that the disease spread from the original depot by migra- 

 tion of some of the new fungi, which at their respective points of 

 localization established independent centres of infection and tissue 

 proliferation. While the actinomyces in the new nodules presented a 

 perfect structure, and could be readily stained, the transplanted 

 fungus in the graft had lost its structure, and could no longer be 

 stained. 



SOURCES OF INFECTION. As the actiuomyces found in man and 

 beast resemble each other morphologically, and in their effect on 

 the tissues, as well as in their reaction to chemical substances, it is 

 evident that the etiology of the disease is similar in both of them. 

 The fungus has never been found outside of the body. Israel is of 

 the opinion that both man and animals are infected from the same 

 source, such as vegetables or water. Jensen (Tidskrift f. Vderincir, 

 B. xiii., 1883) traced an epidemic in Seeland to the eating of rye 

 grown on laud recently reclaimed from the sea; and Johne dis- 

 covered a fungus closely resembling the actinomyces in grains of 

 rye stuck in the tonsils of pigs. That the ears of barley or rye are 

 sometimes the carriers of the coutagium is well illustrated by the 

 case reported by Soltmanu (" Ueber Aetiologie und Ausbreitungs- 

 bezirk der Aktinomykose," Jahrbuch f. Kinder heilkunde, B. xxiv. 

 p. 129). The patient was a boy, who had swallowed an ear of 

 barley. The foreign body lodged in the pharynx, where it gave 

 rise to difficulty in deglutition ; afterward it perforated the pharyn- 

 geal wall, an accident which was attended by hemorrhage; and 

 later an actinomycotic phlegmon developed, which spread rapidly, 

 and finally opened below the scapula. Through this opening the 

 foreign body was extracted. Piaua (Virchow u. Hirsch's Jahres- 

 bericht, 1887, B. i. p. 293) examined the tongue of a cow suffering 

 from a circumscribed actiuomycosis, in which the disease could be 

 traced to a similar origin perforation of the tissues and infection 

 by a sharp beard of the ear of barley. Actinomycosis has as yet 

 only been found amongst herbivorous and omnivorous animals, 

 including man, and the frequent location of the primary swelling 

 in the mouth seems to indicate that the fungus gains entrance with 

 food. 



EFFECT OF ACTINOMYCES ON THE TISSUES. As to the manner 

 in which the fungus exerts its pathogenic action much yet remains 

 to be ascertained. The most striking effect is the transformation 

 of mature connective tissue into embryonal or granulation tissue. 



