158 MICRO-ORGANISMS AND DISEASE [chap. 



Office, a series of important experiments on the micro- 

 cocci discovered by Schiiller and Rosenbach. He collected 

 pus from five cases of acute osteomyelitis in which the 

 abscesses had not been opened, and cultivated the micro- 

 cocci on sterilised potatoes, coagulated serum, and gelatine- 

 peptone. After 3-5 days the punctures made by the 

 needles assumed the appearance of white streaks, around 

 which the gelatine gradually liquefied and took an orange 

 colour. The culture injected into the jugular vein 

 caused acute septicaemia and death ; but nothing abnormal 

 was found in the bones in either case. A small quantity 

 was then injected into the jugular veins of fifteen rabbits, 

 after having, some days before, fractured or bruised the 

 bone of one of the hind legs. At the end of the first week 

 a swelling was formed at the seat of the bruise or fracture ; 

 the animals lost flesh and died after a few days. On 

 dissection, large abscesses were found around and in the 

 bones, and in several cases metastatic abscesses had formed 

 in the lungs and kidneys. Numerous colonies of micrococci 

 were discovered in the blood, which are identical with the 

 staphylococcus pyogenes aureus. 



15. Kochi described various kinds of micrococci inti- 

 mately connected with certain pysemic processes in mice and 

 rabbits, {a) Micrococcus of progressive necrosis in mice. 

 Injecting into the ear of mice putrid fluids, he observed a 

 necrosis of the tissues of the ear (skin, cartilage) starting 

 from the point of inoculation and gradually spreading on to 

 the surrounding parts and killing the animal in about three 

 days. As far as the necrosis reaches, the tissue is crowded 

 with micrococci, chiefly in the form of chains and zoogloea. 

 The individual cells are spherical, of about 5 /a in diameter. 



^ Uniersuchungen iiber die Aetiologie d, Wundinfections- Kranliheiten, 

 Leipzig, 1878. 



