* 



ACTINOMYCOSIS. 437 



to change, and by the end of a fortnight there was an appreciable 

 increase in size. Numerous cover-glass preparations were made 

 from what was originally a single grain, and on examination by the 

 method of Gram the appearance was very striking. There could be 

 no doubt as to the increase of the mycelial structure. The dense 

 masses of filaments covered almost the whole area of the preparation. 

 In parts less thickly covered there were very numerous oval 

 bodies, and rod-like segments with terminal enlargements. These 

 " crocus" forms corresponded with the appearances previously de- 

 scribed as met with in the interior of certain clubs. From this it 

 would appear that some other condition is necessary for the develop- 

 ment of the fully formed club, which is the result of the sheath 

 undergoing some change, possibly mucilaginous, resulting in the 

 formation of a thick investment of the clubbed mass of protoplasm 

 at the end of the thread. 



These club-shaped bodies represent organs of fructification, rather 

 than the results of degeneration or death. The difficulty in accept- 

 ing the view of their being entirely lifeless forms lies in the fact that 

 the author has observed daughter-clubs growing from the mature 

 clubs ; and, further, in the bovine fungus the author has been 

 able to trace the stages in the development of a single club to a 

 completely formed rosette. 



In the unstained condition, the clubs are found, on the whole, to 

 be very regular in their form and arrangement, and by certain 

 staining methods they can be shown to have a somewhat complex 

 structure. If we take all the characters into account, and par- 

 ticularly the minute structure and the relation to each other of the 

 threads and clubs, we are justified in the opinion that the club in 

 the early stages is an integral part of the living fungus, and that 

 these characters bring the fungus into relation with a higher group 

 of micro- fungi, Basidiomycetes, although the filaments, regarded 

 by themselves, correspond with the characters of Streptothrix. The 

 life-history of the micro-organism may be summed up thus : 



The spores sprout into excessively fine, straight, or sinuous, and 

 sometimes distinctly spirilliform threads, which branch irregularly 

 and sometimes dichotomously. The extremities of the branches 

 develop the club-shaped bodies. The clubs are closely packed to- 

 gether, so that a more or less globular body is formed, with a central 

 core composed of a dense mass of threads. The threads can be 

 differentiated by the method of Gram into an external sheath, and 

 protoplasmic contents. The club-shaped body externally appears to 

 be mucilaginous, while internally it is continuous with the protoplasm 



