SPUTUM &EPTICJLMIA. 323 



This organism was discovered by Sternberg in 1880. 

 It was subsequently described by A. Frankel as the 

 etiological factor in the production of acute fibrinous 

 pneumonia. 



It is not uncommonly present in the saliva of healthy 

 individuals, having been found by Sternberg in the oral 

 cavities of about 20 per cent, of healthy persons examined 

 by him, and certain authors are of the opinion that it 

 occurs in the oral or nasal cavities of all individuals 

 at various times during life. It is constantly to be 

 detected in the rusty sputum of patients suifering from 

 acute fibrinous pneumonia. Its presence has been de- 

 tected in the middle ear, in the pericardial sac, in the 

 pleura, and in the serous cavities of the brain ; and 

 indeed it may penetrate from its usual site of develop- 

 ment in the mouth to any of the more distant organs. 



The organism is commonly found as a diplococcus, 

 though here and there short chains of four to six indi- 

 viduals may be detected. (Fig. 64.) The individual 

 cells are more or less oval, or, more strictly speaking, 

 lancet-shaped, for at one end they are commonly pointed. 

 When joined in pairs the junction is always at the 

 broad ends of the ovals, never at the pointed extremities. 

 A7hen in chains only the terminal cells are pointed, and 

 then at their distal extremities. 



As already stated, in preparations directly from the 

 sputum or from the blood of animals a delicate capsule 

 may frequently be seen surrounding them. Though 

 fairly constant in preparations directly from the blood 

 of animals and from the sputum or lungs of pneumonic 

 patients, the capsule is but rarely observed in artificial 

 cultures. Occasionally in cultures on blood-serum, in 

 milk, and on agar-agar it can, according to some 



