390 BACTERIOLOGY OF THE EYE 



Streptococci. He made his injections into the retrobulbar tissues, but was unable 

 to produce severe changes in the optic nerve by this means, and concluded that the 

 degeneration was rather due to a thrombo-phlebitis of the orbit, which advanced 

 along the nerve. The results obtained by Bartels agree with this view (A. f. A., 

 1906, Ivi., p. 267). Bartels, and before him Schmidt-Bimpler, could not confirm 

 Mitvalsky's opinion that the early blindness in thrombo-phlebitis was due to the 

 introduction of bacteria into the vena centralis retinae. 



Otschapowski's work (St. Petersburg Ophth. Soc., 1904, rev. 

 Jahresber. von Michel and Nagel, 1904, p. 229) contains experi- 



F 





FIG. 87. PNEUMOCOCCI IN THE ORBITAL TISSUES. GRAM-WEIGERT STAIN. 



mental investigations on infection of the orbital tissues with 

 Stapliylococci. 



In the reverse way a meningitis can lead to a spread of the patho- 

 genic organisms into the orbit ; this takes place along the optic sheath 

 to the sclera. This is a rare exception (Axenfeld 1 and De Lieto- 

 Yollaro 2 ), and an infection of the interior of the eye by this means has 

 never yet been determined. The orbital tissues can be also infected 

 by the nerves and the vessels which pass through the fissure. Orbital 

 cellulitis so developed is rarely seen clinically, as such cases are very 



1 A.f. 0., 1894, xl. ; Monatsch. f. Psych, u. Ncrvenh., 1897, i. 415. 



2 K. M. f. A., 1903, Beilageheft (Festschr. f. Mans}. 



