SPECIAL FORMS OF CONJUNCTIVAL INFECTION 249 



When inoculated on to the scarified conjunctiva of rabbits, the 

 cultures caused a severe catarrh ; in the cornea the results were 

 practically negative. Injections into the anterior chamber caused a 

 severe iritis ; when c.cm. was injected the exudation was sufficient 

 to close the pupil. In the vitreous a panophthalmitis resulted, the 

 bacilli themselves rapidly disappearing. In the lacrymal sac they did 

 not cause a true dacryocystitis, but only a slight irritation (epiphora). 



We have no records of positive inoculations of the human conjunctiva. 

 The results of Gourfein's experiments, however, are in favour of the 

 view that the conjunctivitis which follows the injury to the conjunctiva 

 with earth is not merely the result of the trauma and the foreign 

 body, but that the bacilli take a part in it. Their prolonged duration 

 in the conjunctival secretion is also in favour of this view. 



In any case the occurrence of Subtilis on the conjunctiva in any 

 considerable numbers is very rare, and its pathological significance 

 is still a matter for discussion. Excluding its occurrence in large 

 numbers on the conjunctiva after splinter wounds, in the thousands 

 of cases whose secretions I have examined I have only once met with 

 this bacillus in a case which I could call Subtilis conjunctivitis. 



(For further records of the occurrence of Subtilis in the eye, the 

 experimental examination of the cases, the biology of Subtilis and the 

 literature of the subject, see the chapter on ' Wound Infection,' p. 77.) 



4. Ulcus Molle (Soft Sore). 



This affection of the conjunctiva has been described by Vignes (Bull, de la Soc. 

 franc, d'ophth., 1898, p. 94). The Stre^ttobacilli of Ducrey were demonstrated. 

 (For further information concerning the methods of demonstration and diagnosis 

 of these bacilli, see section on 'Affections of the Lids,' p. 53.) 



5. Glanders (Morve). 



In rare cases this infection can occur through the conjunctiva. Nicolle and Dubos 

 have described a case (Press, med., 1902, ii., p. 997 ; rev. by Petit in the Ann. d'ocul., 

 1902, cxxix., p. 157), where the conjunctiva was the point of entry. The original 

 irritation of the conjunctiva rapidly passed away, then the swelling of the pre- 

 auricular gland began, and changes in the nose and mouth followed. Five similar 

 cases occur in the literature, in one of which Gourfein was able to grow the 

 Bacillus mallei from the ulcerated surface, and to confirm its identity by inocula- 

 tions (Gourfein, Marignac, and Valette, Rev. med. de la Suisse romande, 1897, 

 xvii., p. 737 ; and Ann. d'ocul., cxxi., 1899, p. 292). 



The further case by Strzeminski (' Un Gas de Morve primitive de la Conjonctive 

 tarsienne,' Postemp. Okul., 1900, No. 1) is received with scepticism by Morax, as 

 inoculation tests were wanting. 



The disease is very rare, and the bacteriological text-books must be consulted for 

 the more exact peculiarities of the bacilli. They are slender rods 0*5 to 1 n broad, 

 2 to 3 /JL long, Gram-negative, staining in segments, and then only slightly. They 



