474 A MANUAL OF BACTERIOLOGY 



as a true fungus. It is stated to occur on decaying vege- 

 table matter and to be the cause of epizootic lymphangitis 

 in the horse a disease having a superficial resemblance to 

 farcy in the pus of which oat-shaped bodies are found, 

 the " cryptococcus " of Rivolta. 



Thrush 



Thrush is due to an organism (O'idium or Monilia albi- 

 cans) which is usually classed among the Hyphomycetes. 

 It forms the whitish patches so frequently seen on the 

 mucous membrane of the mouth and pharynx in children 

 and in those suffering from wasting diseases but a general 

 infection has occasionally been produced by it. If one 

 of these patches is removed and teased up, it will be found 

 to consist of masses of tangled mycelial threads with yeast- 

 like budding. The organism can be readily cultivated on 

 all the ordinary laboratory media, and will also grow on 

 slightly acid media such as wort gelatin. It produces 

 whitish, membranous, adherent growths, in which it 

 appears morphologically under two forms as masses of 

 tangled filaments or hyphae and as yeast-like cells. On 

 aoid media the latter exclusively occur, on alkaline the 

 former predominate. It liquefies gelatin, stains by Gram's 

 method, produces an alkaline reaction by the formation 

 of ammonium carbonate, and does not ferment lactose. 

 Inoculated on to a damaged mucous membrane the 

 " thrush " patches appear, subcutaneously it produces an 

 abscess, and injected into the peritoneum a general infec- 

 tion, followed by death and accompanied by a sero-purulent 

 peritonitis. 



Cultivation and Examination 



The Hyphomycetes can be cultivated on the ordinary laboratory 

 media, but wort-agar, or wort -gelatin, potato, bread, or maltose agar 

 is to be preferred. 



