174 INFLAMMATION AND SUPPURATION 



BACTERIA AS CAUSES OF INFLAMMATION AND SUPPURATION. 



A considerable number of species of bacteria have been 

 found in acute inflammatory and suppurative conditions, and of 

 these many have been proved to be causally related, whilst of 

 some others the exact action has not yet been fully determined. 



Ogston, who was one of the first to study this question (in 

 1881), found that the organisms most frequently present were 

 micrococci, of which some were arranged irregularly in clusters 

 (staphylococci), whilst others formed chains (streptococci). He 

 found that the former were more common in circumscribed acute 

 abscesses, the latter in spreading suppurative conditions. Rosen- 

 bach shortly afterwards (1884), by means of cultures, differentiated 

 several varieties of micrococci, to which he gave the following 

 special names : staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, staphylococcus 

 pyogenes albus, streptococcus pyogenes, micrococcus pyogenes tennis. 

 Other organisms are met with in suppuration, such as staphylo- 

 coccus pyogenes citreus, staphylococcus cereus albus, staphylococcus 

 cereus flavus, pneumococcus, pneumobacillus (Friedlander), bacillus 

 pyogenes foetidus (Passet), bacillus coli communis, bacillus lactis 

 cerogenes, bacillus cerogenes encapsulatus, bacillus pyocyaneus, 

 micrococcus tetragenus, pneumococcus, pneumobacillus, diplococcus 

 intracellularis meningitidis, and others. 



In secondary inflammations and suppurations following acute 

 diseases the corresponding organisms have been found in some 

 cases, such as gonococcus, typhoid bacillus, influenza bacillus, etc. 

 Suppuration is also produced by the actinomyces and the 

 glanders bacillus, and sometimes chronic tubercular lesions have 

 a suppurative character. 



Staphylococcus Pyogenes Aureus. Microscopical Characters. 

 This organism is a spherical coccus about '9 /x in diameter, 

 which grows irregularly in clusters or masses (Fig. 52). It stains 

 readily with all the basic aniline dyes, and retains the colour in 

 Gram's method. 



Cultivation. It grows readily in all the ordinary media at 

 the room temperature, though much more rapidly at the 

 temperature of the body. In stab cultures in peptone gelatin 

 a streak of growth is visible on the day after inoculation, and 

 on the second or third day liquefaction commences at the top. 

 As liquefaction proceeds, the growth falls to the bottom as a 

 flocculent deposit, which soon assumes a bright yellow colour, 

 while a yellowish film may form on the surface, the fluid portion 

 still remaining turbid. Ultimately liquefaction extends out to 



