394 LOUIS PASTEUR 



ferent parts of the body away from formed or forming 

 furuncles, and thus secure many cultures, simultaneous or 

 otherwise, of the blood of the general circulation. I am 

 convinced that among them would be found growths of the 

 micro-organism of furuncles. 



II. On Osteomyelitis. Single observation. I have but 

 one observation relating to this severe disease, and in this 

 Dr. Lannelongue took the initiative. The monograph on 

 osteomyelitis published by this learned practitioner is well 

 known, with his suggestion of the possibility of a cure 

 by trephining the bone and the use of antiseptic washes and 

 dressings. On the fourteenth of February, at the request 

 of Dr. Lannelongue I went to the Sainte-Eugenie hospital, 

 where this skillful surgeon was to operate on a little girl of 

 about twelve years of age. The right knee was much swol- 

 len, as well as the whole leg below the calf and a part of 

 the thigh above the knee. There was no external opening. 

 Under chloroform, Dr. Lannelongue made a long incision 

 below the knee which let out a large amount of pus; the 

 tibia was found denuded for a long distance. Three places 

 in the bone were trephined. From each of these, quantities 

 of pus flowed. Pus from inside and outside the bone was 

 collected with all possible precautions and was carefully 

 examined and cultivated later. The direct microscopic study 

 of the pus, both internal and external, was of extreme in- 

 terest. It was seen that both contained large numbers of the 

 organism similar to that of furuncles, arranged in pairs, in 

 fours and in packets, some with sharp clear contour, others 

 only faintly visible and with very pale outlines. The ex- 

 ternal pus contained many pus corpuscles, the internal had 

 none at all. It was like a fatty paste of the furuncular 

 organism. Also, it may be noted, that growth of the small 

 organism had begun in less than six hours after the cul- 

 tures were started. Thus I saw, that it corresponded exactly 

 with the organism of furuncles. The diameter of the 

 individuals was found to be one one-thousandth of a mil- 

 limeter. If I ventured to express myself so I might say 

 that in this case at least the osteomyelitis was really a 

 furuncle of the bone marrow. 4 It is undoubtedly easy to 

 induce osteomyelitis artificially in living animals. 





