MICROCOCCUS AUREUS 333 



The normal structure of the cells of the tissues is more or 

 less destroyed; there is seen a granular condition due to 

 cell-fragmentation; at different points about the centre 

 of this area the tissue appears cloudy and the tissue-cells 

 do not stain readily. Round about and through this spot 

 are seen the nuclei of pus-cells, many of which are under- 

 going disintegration. In the smallest of these beginning 

 abscesses the micrococci are to be seen scattered about the 

 centre of the necrotic tissue; but in a more advanced stage 

 they are commonly seen massed together in very large 

 numbers in the form commonly referred to as emboli of 

 micrococci, meaning, obviously, that they had developed 

 within the lumen of a tiny bloodvessel. 



When the process is well advanced, the different parts 

 of the abscess are more easily detected. They then present 

 in sections somewhat the following conditions: at the 

 centre can be seen a dense, granular mass which stains readily 

 with the basic aniline dyes, and when highly magnified is 

 found to be made up of micrococci. Sometimes the shape 

 of this mass of micrococci corresponds to that of the capil- 

 lary in which the organisms became lodged and developed. 

 Immediately about the embolus of cocci the tissues are in an 

 advanced stage of necrosis. Their structure is almost com- 

 pletely destroyed, although the destruction is seen to be 

 more advanced in some of the elements of the tissues than 

 in others. As we approach the periphery of this faintly 

 stained necrotic area it becomes marked here and there 

 with granular bodies, irregular in size and shape, which 

 stain in the same way as do the nuclei of the pus-cells and 

 represent the result of disintegration going on in these cells. 



Beyond this area we come upon a dense, deeply stained 

 zone, consisting of closely packed pus-cells; of granular 



