DIPHTHERIA. 



331 



and may be easily 

 obtained from the 

 throat of diphtheritic 

 patients in the fol- 

 lowing manner : 



Culture Outfit. 

 Steel rods like or- 

 dinary knitting 

 needles, about six 

 inches in length, are 

 beaten out or rough- 

 ened at one end, and 

 a pledget of wool is 

 twisted round so as 

 to form a swab. 

 These swabs are 

 placed in clean test- 

 tubes, which are then 

 plugged with cotton- 

 wool. The test-tubes 

 and swabs are steri- 

 lised by heating in 

 the hot air steriliser 

 f or an hour at 1 50 C. 

 The so-called culture 

 o u t fi t consists of 

 a small box con- 

 taining a test-tube of 

 blood serum and a 

 swab. They can be 

 always kept ready for 

 use, and after use 

 should be conveyed 

 by hand for further 

 examination. The 

 danger of trans- 

 m i 1 1 i n g virulent 

 diphtheritic material 

 by post is obvious. 

 When the examina- 

 tion of the tube has 

 been completed, the 



f^'^^^^^^f^'^^^^f^ 



^S^MSjtKI":r 



FIG. 126. FREE SURFACE OF DIPHTHERITIC LARYNX 

 x 350 (HAMILTON). A, Deposit of diphtheria bacillus 

 on surface of false membrane ; B, false membrane ; 

 (7, mucosa ; /, lymph-cells and false membrane 

 surrounded by meshes of fibrine ; e, surface of mucosa 

 deprived of its epithelium ; l,v, lymph-cells containing 

 shed epithelium. 



