Staphylococci Pyogenes Aureus et Albus 293 



servations have been abundantly confirmed. Krauss* first 

 observed that certain products of the staphylococcus were 

 hemolytic and destroyed red blood-corpuscles. This hemo- 

 lysin has been carefully studied by Neisser and Wechsberg, f 

 by whom it was called staphylolysin. 



DurmeJ found staphylolysin produced most abundantly 

 by virulent staphylococci. 



Ribbert found that both sterilized and unsterilized cul- 

 tures when intravenously injected into animals produced 

 definite changes in the heart, kidneys, lungs, spleen, and 

 bone-marrow, and attributed the action to the toxin. 



Morse 1 1 found that the toxic products of Staphylococcus 

 aureus were capable of occasioning interstitial nephritis. 



The staphylococci form very little extracellular toxin, as 

 filtered cultures provoke little local or general reaction in 

 animals, even when the staphylococcus is highly virulent. 



Pathogenesis. The virulent, golden staphylococcus is 

 a dangerous and often deadly organism. Its virulence is, 

 however, very variable both for the lower animals and for 

 man. The classical test for virulence is to inject yV c - c - of 

 a twenty-four-hour old bouillon culture into the ear vein of a 

 middle-sized rabbit. If of the ordinary virulence, the 

 organism should kill the rabbit in from four to eight days. 

 During this time the animal suffers from fever and wasting, 

 and when examined postmortem, almost invariably shows 

 small abscesses in the kidneys and heart. In cases in which 

 the rabbits are highly susceptible or the cocci virulent, 

 purulent arthritis may be found. Highly virulent cultures 

 kill the animal in from one to two days, commonly by 

 occasioning endocarditis. 



Human beings are undoubtedly more susceptible to the 

 injurious effects of the staphylococci than the majority 

 of the experiment animals. 



When introduced subcutaneously, abscesses commonly 

 result, and not infrequently lead to a fatal generalization of 

 the organisms. In such cases the organisms may be culti- 

 vated from the streaming blood, though the greater number 



* " Wiener, klin. Wochenschrift," 1900. 

 t "Zeitschrift fur Hygiene," 1901, xxxvi, p. 330. 

 J "Hyg. Rundschau," 1903, Heft 2, p. 66. 



" Die pathologische Anatomic und die Heilung der durch den 

 Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus hervorgerufenen Erkrankungen." 

 || "Journal of Experimental Medicine," vol. I, 1896, p. 613. 



