296 



Wound Infection; Suppuration 



lower animals. Its division in one direction of space leads to its asso- 

 ciation in the form of chains or "strings of beads." It stains by ordi- 

 nary methods and by Gram's method. 



Streptococci were probably first seen by Koch* in 1878. 

 In 1 88 1 Ogstonf called attention to the fact that two distinct 

 kinds of cocci were to be found in pus, mentioning both 

 staphylococci and streptococci. The beginning of real 

 knowledge of the streptococci, however, dates from the time 

 of their isolation and cultivation by FehleisenJ and of 



Fig. 92. Streptococcus pyogenes, from the pus taken from an ab- 

 scess. X 1000 (Frankel and Pfeiffer). 



Rosenbach, who cultivated them from 18 of 33 suppurative 

 lesions, fifteen times by itself and five times in association 

 with Staphylococcus aureus. 



Morphology. The organisms are spheric, of variable size 

 (0.4-1 IJ- in diameter), and are constantly associated in pairs 

 or in chains of from four to twenty or more individuals. 

 Special varieties, known as Streptococcus longus (chains of 

 more than one hundred members) and Streptococcus brevis 



* " Untersuchungen iiber die Aetiologie der Wundinfektionskrank- 

 heiten," Leipzig, Vogel, 1878. 



f "British Med. Jour.," 1881, March, p. 369. 



% "Aetiologie des Erysipels," Berlin, Fischer, 1883. 



" Mikroorganismen bei Wundinfektionskrankheiten des Menschen," 



1884, p. 22. 



