298 A MANUAL OF BACTERIOLOGY 



growth need not be abandoned until the culture has been incu- 

 bated for four days : the medium should always be liberally 

 inoculated. 



The coccus dies in the cadaver in thirty-six to forty hours, 

 sometimes earlier. 



2. Carriers. These may be examined by plating swabbings 

 taken from the nasopharynx in the same manner as cerebro- 

 spinal fluid. The swabbings should be cultured on the spot if 

 possible, or as soon as practicable, the swabs in the meanwhile 

 being kept warm and moist, or the coccus may die. It is impor- 

 tant also to avoid soiling the swab with saliva ; this may be 

 accomplished by the use of West's swabs, which consist of a piece 

 of large glass tubing of suitable length curved at one end. Within 

 the tube is a piece of flexible wire having the swab at one end. 

 For use, the swab is withdrawn into the curved end of the tube ; 

 the tube is then introduced into the mouth and the curved end 

 turned up at the back of the palate. The swab is then pushed 

 out of the tube, rubbed over the nasopharynx and withdrawn 

 again into the tube, which is then removed from the mouth. By 

 this means contamination with saliva is prevented. 



Micrococcus [Neisseria] gonorrhoeae 



The Micrococcus gonorrhcece was discovered by Neisser 

 in 1879 in cases of gonorrhoea] urethritis. In gonorrhoeal 

 pus it occurs usually in pairs, occasionally in tetrads, the 

 elements of which are somewhat ovoid in shape, their 

 opposed surfaces being flattened. The organism has a 

 characteristic arrangement in groups within the pus-cells 

 (Plate III, 6). The individual cocci vary somewhat in 

 size, the average being about 0-7 jj, in the long, and 0-5 /A 

 in the short, diameter. It stains readily with the ordinary 

 anilin dyes, Loffler's blue being perhaps the best, but is 

 decolorised by Gram's method an important practical 

 distinction from many other cocci. In the pus of the 

 acute stage of gonorrhoea in the male the gonococcus 

 may be present in numbers and in practically pure cul- 

 ture. As the acute stage passes off the organisms become 



