﻿482 MUSGEAVE AND CLEGG. 



coYerglass preparations. It occurs in several forms. The most im- 

 portant of these are grannies of varying sizes, the larger ones being of 

 the "fish roe" type discussed by several authors. These granules are of 

 a dull, yellowish- white ; the yellowish color being more pronounced in 

 the larger and hardly noticeable in the smaller ones. They are of a 

 tough, dough-like consistency, they may be washed and handled with 

 impunity, and show evidences of considerable elasticity. . They vary in 

 diameter from 0.25 to 5 millimeters or more, are of diverse shapes, the 

 very small ones usually being oval, the conformation differing as they 

 grow larger. When pressed out by a cover glass and examined under a 

 low power of the microscope, they somewhat resemble in appearance 

 similar preparations of Actinomyces hominis; however, the ray forma- 

 tion is a much less distinctive feature and the "club" appearances are ab- 

 sent, or much less noticeable. Under the high powers of the microscope 

 the smaller granules are seen to be made up of a mass of interwoven, 

 fungoid filaments with a more or less definite picture of radiation of the 

 filaments at the margins. The central portion in larger and older gran- 

 ules contains fewer of the filamentous forms, but there are numerous, 

 baeillary and coccus-like varieties together with crystals, bright, shining, 

 small, round bodies, and debris, the whole making up a more or less 

 dense mass which, as it were, constitutes a cave for the granule. Outside 

 of this mass there is a zone of interlacing filaments, in which cells and 

 debris are embedded and, finally, the outer fringe is made up largely of 

 terminal branches, loops, and hyphas, which are forms of the fungus. 

 Here, as is the case in the smaller nodules, there is some attempt at 

 radiation and in certain of the specimens definite "clubs" may be seen. 

 The Streptothrix likewise often appears in the fresh material as a some- 

 what skein-like mass of filaments or mycelia, with hyphae and occasional 

 round forms. These filaments are often found free in the discharge, 

 and because of their loose structure are good specimens for examina- 

 tion. Still other types of the Streptothrix are sometimes present. 

 These consist of a single filament, or of a few small, round, glistening 

 bodies lying free in the secretion. The nature of these small, round, 

 refractive bodies is not entirely clear. They are found free, bound up 

 in meshes of mycelia, and what appear to be similar structures are some- 

 times observed inclosed within large fixed tissue cells, this process of 

 inclosure apparently being one of phagocytosis. Yellowish crystals of 

 various sizes and shapes, the products of parasitic activity, occur in the 

 discharge in small groups, or singly. A pigment of the appearance of 

 haemoglobin may also be seen. 



The individual elements of the Streptothrix give interesting pictures 

 when the} r are examined with the highest powers of the microscope. 

 The hyphge-like forms seem to be made up of a delicate membrane, 

 covering a homogeneous and unbroken core : in the older, mycelial types 



