CHAPTER II 

 THE NORMAL CONJUNCTIVA 



IN studying the bacteriology of external eye diseases we must begin 

 with that of the normal conjunctiva. The practical man will examine 

 his own conjunctiva, and thus become acquainted with the saprophytes 

 and common parasites of which he is the host. This study can 

 be strongly recommended, because the organisms there present are 

 scanty in number, and, being therefore isolated in the cultures, 

 their peculiarities can be observed, and pure cultivations easily 

 obtained. 



As the conjunctival sac is open externally, it is only to be expected 

 that all those organisms can be found in it which occur in the air, 

 in washing water, in the skin around, or on anything with which the 

 eye may come in contact. The great variety of organisms which may 

 be found in these various places is reflected in the bacteriology of the 

 conjunctiva. 



Anyone taking the trouble to determine the peculiarities of all 

 the organisms which could be found in a large series of conjunctives 

 would certainly find very many varieties. Every research in this 

 direction has produced this or that previously undescribed organism, 

 and the future will furnish still more. 1 



Bach is an example of this. He found 27 varieties of Bacteria 

 in 100 conjunctivas, and described 13 of them as new forms. The 

 serial examinations of Fick, Marthen, Bernheim, Lachowicz, 

 Blagoweschenski, Gifford, Griffith, Jackson, Jameson, Basso, 

 Rymowicz, and others, go minutely into the findings of every case. 



On account of the great variation in the possible organisms, we can 

 appreciate how authors' results can differ regarding the number and 

 species of the various Bacteria found. It has been repeatedly 



1 In the dissertations of Brandt (Wurzburg, 1895) and O. Rosenthal (Berlin, 1905) are 

 resumes of the findings according to various observers. These can be considerably reduced, 

 for not unfrequently the same organism has been described under different names, and 

 naturally these should not appear as distinct. 



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