THE CORNEA 311 



much so that Herrenheiser places them at the head of the pyogenic organisms in 

 the eye. This is only true for individual strains. 



(Further records 1 are furnished by Sattler : ' Panophthalmitis after a Perforating 

 Wound'; Terson, 'In Dacryocystitis '"; Schanz, 'In Traumatic Panophthalmitis.' 

 In these cases also the remarkable distant action of the toxin was recorded : in 

 a circumscribed abscess of the vitreous the appearance of a complete panophthal- 

 mitis can be produced.) 



In experimental researches regarding the production of inetastatic inflammations, 

 the Pyocyaneus has been extensively used in the pathology of the eye. Panas and 

 Moll have shown that Pyocyaneus will readily settle down in the eye from the 

 blood-stream. 



Stock regularly obtained metastases in the iris, which, in spite of the virulence of 

 the bacilli, healed spontaneously. He also obtained a benign spontaneously healing 

 choroiditis disseminata (vide Stock, K. M.f. A., 1903, Bd. I., S. 118). 



According to Fuchs, 2 a so-called ring 1 abscess of the cornea is caused 

 by a very severe bacterial toxic action from the anterior chamber in 

 cases of injury or metastasis. From the anterior chamber of an injured 

 eye with a ring abscess Hanke cultivated a bacillus which on inocula- 

 tion into the cornea always produced a ring abscess, and which he 

 regarded as bearing a very close relation to the Bacillus proteus 

 fluorescent.* Macnab, working in my laboratory, proved that the 

 bacillus of Hanke belongs to the Pyocyaneus family, as it formed the 

 characteristic pigments (the chloroform extract gave the blue pyo- 

 cyanin). The Pyocyaneus is a very powerful toxin producer, and 

 therefore is very prone to the formation of extensive necrosis with 

 final ring abscess. Hanke's contention that the separate identity of 

 his bacillus and the Pyocyaneus is obvious from their different patho- 

 genic actions is not convincing. Even though he was always able, with 

 an old culture of his bacillus, to produce a ring abscess, which was not 

 possible with a fresh Pyocyaneus, his argument is invalid, because 

 the toxic activity of the Pyocyaneus varies very much, and in no way 

 depends on the age of the culture. Other organisms may cause a 

 ring abscess for example, Staphylococci, Streptococci, and Pneumococci, 

 acting from the inside of the eye. The latter of these organisms was 



1 Haab, A. f. 0., 1897, xliv., I., p. 201. Herrnheiser, Prager Zeit. f. Heilkunde, 1893, 

 xvi. Sattler, 'Verhandl. der Heidelberger ophth. Versammlung, ' 1892, p. 156. Gallenga- 

 Bietti, Ann. di Ottal., 1899, xxAiii. ; 1905, xxxiv., Nos. 11, 12. Herbert, Ophthalmic 

 Review, 1901, p. 345. Schmidt, A. f. A., 1902, xlv. 79. De Berardinis, Ann. di Ottal., 

 1903, xlii. 789. Schanz, 'Die Bakterien des Auges,' Unterrichtstafeln von Magnus, 1897, 

 text. Terson, in Jaulin's These dc Paris, 1895. Derby, 'Pyocyaneus Conjunctivitis,' The 

 American Jour, of Ophth., 1905, No. 1. Smith, Dorland, Arch, of Ophth., 1906, xxxv., 

 'Xccrotic Hypopyon-Keratitis.' Callan, T. Anier. 0. S., 1906, p. 201. Ewing, A. E., 

 ' Bacillus pyocyanciis in the Eye ; its Longevity, and Immunity from it,' T. Anier. O. S., 

 1906, p. 204. 



2 A. f. 0., 1903, Ivi. 1. An exact pathological account of the ring abscess of the cornea 

 can be found here, and also in the work of Morax (Ann. d'Octil., 1904, cxxxii. 409). 



3 According to Ruzicka, the BM. fluor. liquefaciens is closely allied to the Pyocyaneus 

 (Zent. f. Bakt., 1898, xxiv. 11). Lehmann-Neumann places it in the Pyocyaneus group. 



