236 A MANUAL OF BACTERIOLOGY 



A streptococcus (S. viridans) producing a green growth 

 on blood-agar and belonging to the S. salivarius group has 

 been isolated by Major 1 and others from several cases of 

 sub- acute infective endocarditis. It is probably not a 

 distinct form but only a variant of the S. salivarius. 



In erysipelas, streptococci are present in the lymphatics 

 at the margin of the zone of redness. These were first 

 isolated by Fehleisen, who described the organism as the 

 Streptococcus erysipelatis, and by inoculation experiments 

 on man and animals demonstrated its causal relation to 

 the disease. The experiments on man were made in cases 

 of extensive and inoperable carcinoma and sarcoma, as it 

 had been noticed that malignant tumours were frequently 

 benefited after an attack of erysipelas. Several cases were 

 inoculated, and in all but one typical erysipelas developed 

 (see Coley's fluid, p. 250). Jordan, 2 however, produced 

 typical erysipelas in a rabbit's ear not only with the 

 streptococcus, but also with staphylococci, pneumococci, 

 and B. coli, and although human erysipelas is generally 

 caused by the streptococcus, this disease may, therefore, 

 occasionally be produced by staphylococci, and possibly 

 by the pneumococcus, B. coli, and even the B. typhosus. 



At one time the Streptococcus erysipelatis was considered 

 to be different from the Streptococcus pyogenes, but the 

 two organisms are now regarded as identical, the differences 

 in cultural characters being slight and not constant. A 

 typical erysipelas in the human subject may be induced 

 by inoculation with a pure culture of a streptococcus 

 derived from a case of suppurative peritonitis, and an 

 animal immunised against a streptococcus derived from 

 a case of erysipelas is also immune against a streptococcus 

 isolated from an abscess. 



The different effects produced by the Streptococcus 



1 Johns Hopkins Hosp. Bull., xxii, 1912, p. 326. 



2 Munch, med. Woch., August 27, 1901. 



