THE URINE 295 



or Staphylococcus colonies (pink). The urine may be added to tubes 

 of melted agar and then poured. 



The most satisfactory procedure is to deposit one drop on a poured plate and five 

 drops on a second plate. The surface is smeared over with a bent glass rod first 

 smearing out the single drop and then going to the second plate without a second 

 sterilization. Neutral glycerine agar or blood agar is desirable for such organisms 

 as pneumococci or streptococci and, for the Gonococcus, Thalman's medium smeared 

 over with a few drops of human serum or Vedder's starch agar. 



Cystitis from a colon infection gives an acid urine; that caused by Proteus vulgar is 

 an alkaline urine. 



The old designation B. termo so often employed in connection with the bacteri- 

 ology of the urine in older works applied to the proteus group and M . urea to ordi- 

 nary staphylococci. 



The bacillus of typhoid and the micrococcus of Malta fever are also 

 found in the urine. This elimination in urine of bacilli by typhoid 

 carriers is of great importance in the spread of the disease. 



While the smegma bacillus in urine may be differentiated from the tubercle 

 bacillus by the former losing its red color, by prolonged decolorization with acid 

 alcohol, yet it is chiefly by the subcutaneous inoculation of the guinea-pig that we 

 should diagnose genito-urinary tuberculosis. Inject the sediment after centrifuging. 



The method recommended by Gasis which depends on the alkali fast properties 

 of the T. B. has not given me satisfactory results. 



Smegma bacilli are not disintegrated by antiformin as are other bacilli than the 

 tubercle one, so that treatment of urinary sediments with antiformin for finding 

 tubercle bacilli does not differentiate those of smegma. 



Gonococci are reported from Gram-stained smears. 



To culture Gonococcus material the transfer to culture media should be made 

 almost immediately after obtaining the material from the patient. M . catarrhalis 

 is a rare finding. 



Staphylococcus and Streptococcus infections about the throat as well 

 as such infections in heart or joint may show the presence of the causa- 

 tive organisms in the urine. At times bacterial infections of the kidney 

 may give symptoms of renal stone. 



As it is much easier to culture urine than blood a bacteriological examination of 

 the urine may give us the desired information and the organism for the autogenous 

 vaccine. Salt mouth bottles with cotton plugs, when sterilized, make cheap and 

 satisfactory containers, The urine should be plated out as soon as possible after 

 its passage. As a rule when organisms are present in the urine they are in such 

 numbers that the question of contamination rarely arises. 



Yeasts and moulds frequently contaminate urine, especially diabetic urine, after 

 it has been passed. Amoebae and flagellates (Trichomonas vaginalis in females) 

 may be found in urine. 



