170 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE BACTERIA. 



been sick for two or three days and have pre- 

 sented in their blood very slender and active rods. 

 In the period of invasion the nasal mucus already 

 contains small bacteriform elements. 



Diphtheria. — All the labors undertaken since 

 Tigri, by Trendelenburg, CErtel, Letzerich, Tom- 

 masi, and Hueter, from a parasitic point of view, 

 have attributed diphtheria to the presence of a 

 Micrococcus. There is however a single exception, 

 Eberth of Zurich, in a work published in 1872, 

 regards a Bacterium as the agent of the diph- 

 theritic contagion. 



According to new researches, which appeared in 

 1873, the pus of pyaemia, or of purulent perito- 

 nitis, inoculated, produces diphtheria because of the 

 presence in it of bacteria. 



Laboulbene had already pointed out the presence 

 of Bacterium, accompanied by Vibrios and Mi- 

 crococcus in pseudo-membranous affections. Some 

 researches made in collaboration with Robin had 

 given the same result, but these savants did not 

 admit a relation of cause to effect between the 

 micro-organisms observed and diphtheria. Ac- 

 cording to Duchamp, as shown by experiments 

 cited in his inaugural thesis (1875), there are in 

 false membranes Bacteria, Vibrios, and granu- 

 lations. 



Taken alone, these micro-organisms appear to 

 possess a very injurious action, but their inocula- 

 tion does not produce diphtheria. The demonstra- 

 tion of a causal relation between the Micrococcus 



