Actinomxcosis. 



321 



of the skin or mucous membrane. They are more or less peduncu- 

 lated growths, varying in size from that of a nut to that of a fist, 

 covered with blood and pus and crusts, with an elastic, soft consist- 

 ence, on section looking like bacon, grayish-white or grayish-red, 

 and thickly beset with points of suppuration or the described flabby 

 yellow patches of softening. 



& 







^/.^•i 



i A?': 



j'^^'i 



-% 





X* 







O U^}:'' 



Fig. 82. 



\„dnlp .,f actinomvcosiy (high uiaguitteation ) : </. fibroblastic and epithcliuid l)ui- 



der'; b, leucocytic central pdrtion : c, actmoniyces. 



All three of these forms may occur together and pass into each 

 other. For example, after rupture of an abscess the granulomatous 

 proliferation springs up and grows out as a fungous mass; or the 

 small nodules, because of the progressive multiplication of the fungi, 

 become confluent and form the larger flabby areas of softening ; or 

 the bacon-like connective tissue growth prevails, and this causes 

 more or less marked induration of the organ. 



The most characteristic thing about the actinomycotic growth is 

 the fungus. This may be recognized even by the unaided eye as 

 minute granules the size of a sand grain, soft like tallow or some- 

 times of a chalky consistence, of a sulphur-yellow color or white; 



