THE INFLUENZA BACILLUS 493 



pink colour, resembling anchovy sauce, and abundance of Gram- 

 positive cocci are present in smears, and may be isolated by 

 inoculating on to agar tubes or plates. 



(3) In order to isolate the pneumococcus, streptococcus, B. 

 influenzas and M. catarrhalis blood-agar tubes or plates, or, better, 

 plates of Fleming's medium (p. 498), may be inoculated. The 

 pneumococcus will frequently grow quite well on agar tubes. 

 (For B. influenzce, see p. 498.) 



(4) The pneumococcus may be isolated by injecting a drop or 

 two of sputum into the peritoneal cavity of a mouse or young 

 rabbit. The animal will probably die in from twenty-four to 

 thirty-six hours, and the organism will be present in abundance in 

 the blood, from which it may be grown by inoculating on to agar 

 tubes. 



(5) The culture or inoculation method, preferably both, will 

 probably have to be adopted for the recognition and isolation of 

 the S. pneumonice in pus from empyemata, abscesses, etc. 



(6) Friedlander's pneumo -bacillus, if abundant, can be readily 

 isolated by making gelatin-plate cultivations, in which its colonies 

 form white, shining, heaped-up points. 



Epidemic Influenza 



The presence of a minute bacillus was first described 

 in this disease by Pfeiffer in 1892, who' found it in large 

 numbers in the bronchial secretion. Since then it has been 

 found in various catarrhal conditions of the respiratory 

 tract. In order to isolate the organism the bronchial 

 -expectoration or other secretion should be sown on to a 

 plate of one of Fleming's media (p. 498). 



Morphology. The influenza bacillus (B. [Hemophilus] 

 influenzce} measures 0-5-1-5 JJL in length, and is non- 

 motile and non-sporing. It does not stain by Gram's 

 method, and not very readily with the ordinary dyes, 

 dilute carbol-fuchsin or prolonged staining with Loffler's 

 blue yielding the best results, the poles tending to stain 

 more deeply than the centre. In the sputum it occurs 

 singly, in short chains, in small groups, or in larger masses. 



