Morphology 319 



studies of Jager,* Scherer,f Councilman, and Mallory and 

 Wright J (embracing fifty-five cases, in which the cocci were 

 found by culture or by microscopic examination in thirty- 

 eight), and the recent elaborate studies of Flatten,! 

 Schneider, Rieger, Schmidt, G6ppert, Fliigge, von 

 Lingelsheim, and others. Besredka|| and Flexner** have, 

 however, shown the diplococcus of Weichselbaum to be, 

 without doubt, the specific organism. 



Distribution. The distribution of Diplococcus intra- 

 cellularis in nature is as yet unknown. It has been found 

 in cerebro-spinal meningitis by those who have looked for 

 it, twice has been found in the nose in coryza by Scherer, 

 has been found in the conjunctiva by Carl Frankelff and 

 Axenfeld,|J and in the purulent discharges of rhinitis and 

 otitis by Jager. 



Morphology. The micro-organism is a biscuit-shaped 

 diplococcus having a great resemblance to the gonococcus. 

 This resemblance is further increased by the fact that the 

 cocci are usually found inclosed in the protoplasm of the 

 leukocytes. Weichselbaum, by whom this was first ob- 

 served, found it constant in sections of the brain and its 

 membranes, though in the exudate of the disease a good 

 many free cocci may be observed. It was this peculiar 

 relationship to the cells that led Weichselbaum to name 

 the organism Diplococcus intracellularis. Many of the cocci 

 inclosed in the cells are apparently dead and degenerated, 

 as they stain badly and do not grow when the pus is trans- 

 ferred to culture media. 



Carl Frankel, in discussing the micro-organism, points 

 out that its morphologic peculiarities have much in common 

 with the pneumococcus, so that the most refined methods 

 of differentiation should always precede a positive deter- 

 mination. Its resemblance to the gonococcus should also 

 be kept in mind. 



* "Zeitschrift fur Hygiene," xix, 2, 351. 



f "Centralbl. f. Bakt. u. Parasitenk.," 1895, xvn, 13 and 14. 



J "Amer. Jour. Med. Sci.," March, 1898, vol. cxv, No. 5. 



"Klinisches Jahrbuch," 1906. 



|| "Annales de 1'Inst. Pasteur," 1906, xx, 4. 

 ** "Jour. Exp. Med.," 1906-1907. 

 ft "Zeitschrift fur Hygiene," June 14, 1899. 



J| Lubarsch and Oestertag, "Ergebnisse der allg. Path. u. path. 

 Anat.," in, S. 573. 



"Deutsche med. Wochenschrift," 1894, S. 407. 



