Upon the Pseudo- Diphtheria, etc. 21 



Biggs, Park and Beebe (7) reached the conclusion that 

 from the fact that there is no means of determining by 

 cultural methods any difference between the Loffler bacil- 

 lus and the pseudo-diphtheria bacillus, and that the only 

 difference noticeable is that of virulence, the pseudo- 

 diphtheria bacilli are non-virulent L,6ffler bacilli. They 

 found some of the cultures to produce acid in glucose 

 broth, while others did not. The fact that some of the 

 micro-organisms which resemble the Loffler bacillus have 

 acid products while others do not, together with other 

 points of difference, led them to suggest that the name 

 pseudo-diphtheria bacillus had been applied to two distinct 

 organisms. 



Fraenkel (8) reports on the examination of a number of 

 organisms isolated in various forms of disease of the con- 

 junctiva, as acute and chronic conjunctivitis, trachoma, 

 and from the healthy conjunctiva. Among the organisms 

 isolated there were two derived from cases of xerosis con- 

 junctivae. He is inclined to the opinion that the organ- 

 isms described as xerosis bacilli by Kuschbert and Neisser 

 (Deutsche Medicinische Woch., 1884 ;) Fraenkel and Franke 

 (Archiv fur Augenheilkunde, Bd. 7, 1887) ; Schreiber 

 (Fortschritte der Medicin, 1888, p. 650) ; Brnst (5), and 

 others, were pseudo-diphtheria bacilli. He is brought to 

 this opinion by the fact that we find in cases of true diph- 

 theria both virulent bacilli and others whose virulence has 

 been weakened or lost ; also by the fact that this is true of 

 a large number of other organisms, as the pneumococcus, 

 streptococcus pyogenes, bacillus coli communis, and others. 

 He believes that it is not unlikely that the so-called xerosis 

 bacilli of Neisser are nothing less than true diphtheria 

 bacilli robbed of their virulence. 



There is some difference of opinion as to the xerosis 

 bacillus occurring in normal conjunctival secretions. On 

 the one hand Uthoft (9) states that it is frequently pres- 

 ent in normal eyes. He treated a child with conjunc- 



