368 MANUAL or BACTERIOLOGY. 



The fungus may be cultivated upon the usual culture- 

 media, though not easily. It is facultative anaerobic. It 

 grows both at ordinary temperatures and in the incubator. 

 The growth is not rapid. The colonies are fine, dry, elevated, 

 irregular in form, becoming opaque. Bulbous ends upon the 

 threads do not usually appear in cultures. The results of the 

 injection of these cultures into the lower animals are as yet 

 uncertain. Most authors report failure to obtain positive 

 results of any kind and no one has yet succeeded in producing 

 typical actinomycosis by inoculating pure cultures.* 



The disease produced by the ray-fungus is called actino- 

 mycosis. It occurs in cattle chiefly, seldom in swine and 

 horses, and occasionally in man. Infection appears to be 

 carried by grain or particles of vegetable fiber which penetrate 

 the tissue. The presence of such foreign particles as well as 

 the organisms appears to favor infection. The infectious 

 material frequently enters through the mouth, especially in 

 the vicinity of the teeth, but it may also occur through the skin 

 or the mucous membranes. It leads to the formation of 

 inflammatory, tumor-like nodules, hence the name "lump- 

 jaw" given to the disease in cattle. Necrosis of the tissue takes 

 place with the formation of an abscess. The pus is peculiar 

 in containing small yellowish-white particles — so-called "sul- 

 phur granules" — which consist of little clumps of the ray- 

 fungus, and which readily permit the disease to be diagnosed 

 by the microscope. The material may be examined in the 

 perfectly fresh condition without any staining. The jaw or its 

 neighborhood is very frequently affected, or the disease may be 

 present in other situations about the head and neck, and may 

 involve the lungs, the intestines and the vertebras, ribs and 

 other bones. The disease is usually localized, but a number of 

 areas may be affected simultaneously. 



*Kolle and Wassermann. Loc. cit. p. 879. 



