PSEUDOMONAS ^RUGINOSA. 303 



gitis by bacteriological methods it is essential that the 

 meningeal fluid be obtained by lumbar puncture during 

 the most acute stage of the disease. 



ANTIMENINGITIS SERUM. l Flexner has demonstrated 

 that the blood serum of horses and of goats that have 

 received repeated subcutaneous injections of cultures of 

 diplococcus meningiditis possesses a marked restraining 

 action upon the course of meningitis. This is true not 

 only for the experimental manifestations of the disease, 

 but for those occurring in man as well. The analysis 

 of about 400 cases of true epidemic cerebro-spinal men- 

 ingitis in man in which the serum was used shows that 

 the general death rate was considerably lower than that 

 following any other known mode of treatment. For 

 cases treated between the first and third days of the 

 disease it was as low as 16.5 per cent., while for those 

 treated as late as, and later than the seventh day, it was 

 35 per cent. Between these figures the rates ran from 

 20 to 25 per cent. For success, therefore, early diag- 

 nosis and early administrations of the serum are essen- 

 tial. 



PSEUDOMONAS ^ERUGINOSA (SCHROTER, 1872), 

 MIGULA, 1900. 



Synonyms: Bacterium seruginosum, Schroter, 1872 ; Bacillus eeru- 

 ginosus, Schrb'ter, 1872; Bacillus pyocyaneus, Gessard, 1882; Pseudo- 

 inonas pyocyanea, Migula, 1896. 



Another common organism that may properly be 

 mentioned at this place, though perhaps not strictly 

 pyogenic, is a pseudomonas frequently found in dis- 



* Flexner and Jobling: Arch, of Pediatrics, 1908, p. 747. 



