26o MICRO-ORGANISMS AND DISEASE [chap. 



sputum from patients having pneumonia of influenza : 

 before the height of the disease is passed the number 

 of the characteristic bacilH is very great, after the height of 

 the disease it diminishes. Also in the cases of bronchitis 

 the number of the characteristic bacilH is found at first 

 to be considerable, but when the disease abates and the 

 patient improves their number becomes greatly diminished. 



Fig. gS.— Film Specimen of Blood of a Case of Influenza, showing Bloou 

 Discs and Minute Bacilli. 



It deserves notice, as a matter of no small practical 

 importance, that in cases of acute influenza with bronchial 

 expectoration the fluids of the month contained abundance 

 of influenza bacilH. Thus cover-glass specimens of such 

 bronchial expectoration that had not been washed at all (or 

 at best not well washed) showed scaly epithelial cells. 



