GONORRHCEA 87 



Sterilize the tip of the finger with carbolic lotion, washing off the 

 latter with alcohol or ether ; then prick the finger and squeeze 

 two or three drops of blood into the tube. It will run down the 

 medium and mix with the water of condensation at the bottom. 

 Put the tube in the incubator for twenty-four hours to see if it is 

 sterile. This will probably be the case, as the living leucocytes 

 and fresh serum are probably sufficient to kill the few stray 

 bacteria that may have entered. It is then ready for use, and 

 at the time of inoculation the blood is to be smeared over the 

 surface of the agar with the loop. The colonies are very small 

 and translucent (like those of the pneumococcus), and readily die 

 out. The organism has well-marked morphological characters, 

 and the deductions drawn from these characters need only be 

 corroborated in cases of generalized infection or of meningitis, in 

 which the results are to be published (as they should be), and 

 must, therefore, be proved beyond doubt. In such cases the 

 services of a bacteriologist should be called in if possible ; or the 

 material may be collected in pipettes with the most careful pre- 

 cautions as to asepsis, and forwarded at once. Even if this is 

 done the chance of getting cultures is but slight, as the organism 

 rarely survives if it has been cooled down to the room tempera- 

 ture for a short time. It is highly desirable to make the cultures 

 direct on to medium which has been previously warmed to the 

 body temperature, to incubate at once, and never to let them^ 

 cool down. 



Method of Making the Films. 



The pus is to be spread out into thin films at the time at which 

 it is taken, and this is true whether the practitioner intends to 

 make the examination for himself or is about to send the material 

 to a bacteriologist. Gonorrhceal pus should never be collected 

 on a piece of cotton-wool or enclosed in vaccine tubes. 



The films are to be made thus : Take two clean slides and 

 place two or three platinum loopfuls of the pus on the centre of 

 one of them ; sterilize the needle and lay it down. Now take the 

 other slide and apply its centre to the pus, and allow it to fall on 

 to the first slide by its own weight ; do not squeeze the slides 

 together. Then slide them apart, keeping each in its own plane 

 until they are entirely separated. This will give you two excellent 

 films. Allow them to dry and fix them in the flame. 



The films may also be made on cover-glasses, exactly the same 



