320 BACTERIOLOGY. 



sputum that of the morning is preferable. Spread 

 it in a thin layer upon a black glass plate and select 

 one of the small, white, cheesy masses or dense mu- 

 cous clumps scattered through it. With a pointed 

 forceps smear this carefully upon two or three thin 

 cover-slips, dry and fix them in the way given for 

 ordinary cover-slip preparations. Stain one in the 

 ordinary cover-slip preparations. Stain one with Lof- 

 fler's alkaline methylene-blue solution, another by the 

 Gram method, and a third after the method given for 

 bacterium tuberculosis in fluids or sputum. 



In that stained with Loffler's blue slip No. 1 

 will be seen a great variety of organisms round cells, 

 ovals, short and long rods, perhaps spiral forms. But 

 not infrequently will be seen diplococci having more 

 or less of a lancet shape, joined together by their 

 broad ends, the points of the lancet being away from 

 the point of juncture of the two cells. There may 

 also be seen masses of cocci which are conspicuous by 

 their arrangement into groups of fours, the adjacent 

 surfaces being somewhat flattened. They are not sar- 

 cinse, as one can see by the absence of the division in 

 fhe third direction of space they divide in only two 

 directions. 



In the slip stained by the Gram method the same 

 groups of cocci which grow as threes and fours 

 will be seen; but the lancet-shaped diplococci now 

 present an altered appearance they are usually sur- 

 rounded by a capsule. This capsule is very deli- 

 cate in structure, and, though a frequent accompani- 

 ment, is not constant. It can sometimes be demon- 

 strated by the ordinary methods of staining, though 

 the method of Gram is most satisfactory. (Fig. 62.) 



