MICROCOCCUS MELITENSIS. 449 



tion to the usual symptoms of pyrexia there occur profuse 

 perspirations, pains and sometimes swellings in the joints, 

 occasionally orchitis, whilst constipation is usually a marked 

 feature. The mortality is low about 2 per cent (Bruce). 



In fatal cases the most striking post-mortem change is in 

 the spleen. This organ is enlarged, often weighing slightly- 

 over a pound, and in a condition of acute congestion ; the 

 pulp is soft and may be diffluent, and the Malpighian 

 bodies are swollen and indistinct. In the other organs the 

 chief change is cloudy swelling ; in the kidneys there may- 

 be in addition glomerular nephritis. The lymphoid tissue 

 of the intestines shows none of the changes characteristic of 

 typhoid fever. 



Micrococcus Melitensis. This is a small, rounded or 

 slightly oval organism about .5 p in diameter which is 

 specially abundant in 

 the spleen. It usually 

 occurs singly or in 

 pairs, but in cultures 

 short chains are also 

 met with (Fig. 116). 

 (Durham has shown UJ 

 that in old cultures 

 kept at the room tem- 

 perature bacillary 

 forms appear, and we 

 have noticed indica- 

 tions of such in com- 

 paratively young cul- 

 tures ; the usual form 



FIG. 116. Micrococcus mehtensis, from 



is, however, that ot a a two days - culture on agar at 37 c . 



COCCUS.) It Stains Stained with fuchsin. x 1000. 



fairly readily with the 



ordinary basic aniline stains, but loses the stain in Gram's 

 method. It is generally said to be a non-motile organism. 

 Gordon, however, is of a contrary opinion, and has 

 recently demonstrated that it possesses from one to four 

 flagella which, however, are difficult to stain. In the spleen 

 29 



