DIPLOCOCCUS INTBACELLULARIS MEMNGITWIS. 301 



media about every two days, and even then growth 

 often ceases after a comparatively small number of trans- 

 plantations. If from a fresh growing culture a number 

 of tubes be inoculated and kept under favorable condi- 

 tions, it is a common experience to have growth on only 

 a part of them. It is sometimes impossible to obtain 

 a second growth on agar-agar. 



In addition to its presence in the meningeal exuda- 

 tion of epidemic cei'ebrospinal meningitis, this organism 

 may appear as a secondary invader of the lung, causing 

 more or less extensive pneumonic exudation ; of the 

 joints ; the ear ; the eye ; and the nose and throat. 

 Though rarely, its presence in the circulating blood may 

 sometimes be demonstrated (Gwynn). 



By none of the ordinary methods of inoculation can 

 the disease be reproduced in animals. Subcutaneous 

 inoculation with pure cultures has no effect. Injections 

 into the great serous cavities may or may not result in 

 serofibrinous or fibrinopurulent inflammation. Intra- 

 venous inoculations are equally unsatisfactory. 



The only successful attempts to reproduce the morbid 

 conditions from which the organism is obtained are 

 those in which the living cultures have been injected 

 directly into the meninges. Weichselbaum produced 

 congestion with pus formation in the meninges of dogs 

 and rabbits by direct injection through openings made 

 in the skulls; and Councilman, Mallory, and Wright 

 caused the death of a goat by the injection into the 

 spinal canal of 1 c.c. of a bouillon suspension of a pure 

 culture of the organism. The autopsy revealed intense 

 congestion of the meninges of both brain and cord, with 

 slight clouding of the meninges and slight increase of 

 meningeal fluid. Microscopically there was deep injec- 



