PNEUMONIA. 237 



The injection of a minute quantity ('2 cc.) of a virulent culture 

 subcutaneously proves fatal to mice and rabbits in from twenty- 

 four to forty-eight hours. Immediately afterwards there is a rise of 

 temperature of 2 or 3 0., later it falls, and just before death 

 it is several degrees below normal. After death, the post-mortem 

 appearances of septicaemia are observed, in addition to diffuse 

 inflammatory cedema extending in all directions from the point of 

 injection. The subcutaneous connective tissue contains sanguineous 

 serum and micrococci in abundance. The liver and spleen are some- 



117. COLONIES OP STERNBERG'S MICROCOCCUS. Agar plate-cultivation, 

 after 24 hours, x 100 (FRANKEL AND PFEIFFER). 



times dark and engorged, and blood from the heart and internal 

 organs teems with micrococci. 



There is no indication of pneumonia after subcutaneous inocula- 

 tion, but intra- pulmonary injections produce fibrinous pneumonia, 

 often fatal (Talamon, Gamaleia). The result is usually fatal in 

 rabbits and sheep, but dogs, as a rule, recover. Injection of cultures 

 into the trachea of rabbits is said to induce typical pneumonia 

 (Monti). 



Sternberg concludes that this micrococcus is the cause of acute 

 infectious pneumonia, but the micrococcus is undoubtedly associated 

 with widely different pathological processes, and the possibility of its 

 being a saprophyte, which finds in pneumonia a suitable soil for its 

 development, must not be overlooked. 



