VIII] MICROCOCCI 143 



violet shows the cocci as above, between, and also on the 

 surface and in the interior of the pus cells. In catarrhal in- 

 flammation of the fauces they occur in numbers adhering 

 to the surface of the detached scaly epithelial cells. 



In gelatine plate cultivation kept at 20° C. the colonies 

 are minute whitish dots, visible already after 24 hours ; after 

 36 to 48 hours each dot is already of a yellowish tint, sunk in, 

 as it were, into a pit of clear liquefied gelatine. The liquefac- 

 tion now proceeds rapidly, each liquefied area containing a 

 central yellowish granular mass which is made up of clusters 

 of cocci. In gelatine stab cultures the line of inoculation 

 is soon (after 24 hours) marked as a connected lineal mass 

 of growth ; liquefaction commences generally at the top and 

 rapidly proceeds into the depth, the liquefied gelatine being 

 fairly olear or very slightly turbid ; at the bottom of the 

 liquefied channel or funnel the main part of the growth is 

 accumulated in the form of a yellowish powdery precipitate. 



On agar it forms a characteristic yellow, pale orange 

 yellow, or golden-yellow moist growth — hence its name. 

 On subculture from generation to generation it will be found 

 that the colour becomes paler than is the case at starting ; 

 the condensation water is uniformly turbid with granules 

 and flocculi. 



Although not invariably local suppuration afid multiplica- 

 tion of the cocci are produced in rodents by injecting sub- 

 cutaneously some of the growth, it nevertheless sometimes 

 succeeds ; it succeeds easier by injecting at the same time a 

 10 per cent, sugar solution. 



The subcutaneous injection of a culture (broth culture) 

 of staphylococcus aureus in large doses is occasionally fol- 

 lowed by acute and general infection and death ; the blood 

 contains then a crop of the cocci ; the serous membranes 

 are inflamed, and their exudation is full of the cocci ; 



