Bacillus Capsulatus Mucosus 457 



with which it can then be inhaled by those nearby, it seems justifiable 

 to conclude that the primary entrance of the organism into the body 

 is through the respiratory tract. Wood* has shown that "the organ- 

 isms in the sputum do not remain long in suspension and die off 

 rapidly under the action of light and desiccation. In sunlight or 

 diffuse daylight the bacteria in such powder die within an hour, and 

 in about four hours if kept in the dark. The danger of infection 

 from powdered sputum may, therefore, be avoided by ample illu- 

 mination and ventilation of the sick-room in order to destroy or dilute 

 the bacteria, and by the avoidance of dry sweeping or dusting. 

 Articles which may be contaminated and which cannot be cleaned by 

 cloths dampened in a suitable disinfectant should be removed from 

 the patient's vicinity. 



Pneumococcus (Friedlander) — Bacterium Pneumoniae 

 (Zoprf) — Bacillus Capsulatus Mucosus (FaschingJ) 



General Characteristics. — An encapsulated, non-motile, non-flagellated, 

 non-sporogenous, non-liquefying, aerobic and optionally anaerobic, non-chromo- 

 genic, aerogenic and pathogenic organism, staining by ordinary methods but 

 not by Gram's method. 



This organism was discovered by Friedlander § in 1883 in the 

 pulmonary exudate from a case of croupous pneumonia, and, being 

 thought by its discoverer to be the cause of that disease, was called 

 the pneumococcus, and later the pneumohacillus. The grounds upon 

 which the specificity of the organism was supposed to depend were 

 soon found to be insufficient, and the organism of Friedlander is at 

 present looked upon as one whose presence in the lung is, in most 

 cases, unimportant, though it is sometimes associated with and is 

 probably the cause of a special form of pneumonia, which, ac- 

 cording to Stuhlern,|| is clinically atypical and commonly fatal. 

 Frankel points out that Friedlander's error in supposing his organism 

 to be the chief parasite in pneumonia depended upon the fact that 

 . his studies were made by the plate method, which permitted the dis- 

 covery of this bacillus to be made more easily than that of the slowly 

 growing and more delicate pneumococcus. In the light of present 

 knowledge Friedlander's bacillus must be looked upon as the type 

 of a group of organisms varying among themselves in many minor 

 particulars. 



Distributioii. — The organism is sometimes found in normal saliva; 

 It IS a common parasite of the respiratory apparatus; not infrequently 

 occurs in purulent accumulations; is occasionally found in feces, and 

 sometimes occurs under external saprophytic conditions. Thus it is 

 probably identical with the "capsulated canal- water bacillus" by 



t "^""u ?,^P-„Med-," Aug. 25, 1905, vii. No. 5, p. 624. 

 T Spaltpilze," 1885, p. 66. 



; ^^Centralbl. f. Bakt.," 1892, etc., xii, p. 304. 



! ^Fortshritte der Medizin," 1883, 22, 715. 



1 Centralbl. f. Bakt.," etc. (Originale), July 21, 1904, Bd. xxxvi, No. 4, p. 493- 



