THE NOEMAL CONJUNCTIVA 33 



The possibility that all these pseudo-diphtheria organisms are varia- 

 tions of the true diphtheria bacillus, cannot be excluded on the evidence 

 available. Lehmann and Neumann, considering the literature of 

 the subject, and also their own experiences, state : ' There is a large 

 number of very closely related forms, consisting of both virulent and 

 benign organisms, which can only be differentiated by varying com- 

 binations of characteristics ; they form a considerable group, in which 

 the true diphtheria bacillus is included.' However much the Koux- 

 Behring hypothesis the specific identity of the diphtheria bacillus 

 with the closely related pseudo-diphtheria bacillus may agree with 

 the view of Lehmann and Neumann, and however much they may hope 

 that this hypothesis will be confirmed by further cultivation, ' con- 

 clusive proof cannot yet be shown.' This is the position which we 

 must take up regarding the ' Corynebacteria ' of the eye. 



Organisms resembling diphtheria bacilli occur widely distributed in the con- 

 junctival sac, and also on the skin of animals. 



Ollendorf (Arch. f. Ophth., L., S. 455, 1900) recently described them in rabbits. 1 

 Blagoweschenski found them in several animals. I have found them in cats and 

 rabbits, and, with Dr. O. Simon, observed them in fowls in an epidemic of con- 

 junctivitis at Rostock. How widely these organisms are distributed and what 

 errors they have given rise to is clear and this may be a consolation to ophthal- 

 mologists from the fact that they have been at times considered the cause of cow- 

 pox, of syphilis, and of paralysis, only to have the statement denied or quietly 

 abandoned. 



According to Lobanow's experiments in my laboratory, the spread of these 

 organisms is not generally through the air, but by contact, water, etc. The Bacillus 

 xerosis, excepting one single strain, was not transported by a moderate draught, 

 or the air currents of a room. The conditions are favourable for a contact infection 

 at birth. The only record in the literature is that pseudo-diphtheria bacilli grew on 

 serum-plates exposed in the wards of the Eppendorf Hospital. As, however, we 

 find no such results in the literature of the bacteriology of the air, the term 

 ' Luftstabchen ' (air bacilli) had better be given up, as the name emphasizes too 

 strongly an infection through the air. 



Staphyloeoccus albus. 



The white Staphylococci are almost as numerous, and occupy the 

 second place. 



No small difficulty presents itself in making a classification of the 

 Micpoeocci and Staphyloeocci 2 which will harmonize the results of 

 the various authors with one's own experience. We have to deal 

 with the large group of Staphylococci in which a number of well- 

 marked types can be differentiated. The classification, however, is 



1 Randolph found Staph. albus more frequently. 



' 2 A general consideration of the Staphylococci can be found in M. Neisser and Lipstein, 

 'Die Staphylokokkeu. Handb. v. Kolle u. Wassermann,' 1903, Bd. iii., S. 106; and in 

 Lehmann and Neumann, 'Atlas u. Grundriss,' 1906, 4 Aufl. 



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