l82 INFLAMMATORY AND SUPPURATIVE CONDITIONS. 



ways, as will be described below (p. 196). If the term pycemia 

 be used to embrace all such conditions, their method of produc- 

 tion should always be distinguished. 



Bacteria as Causes of Inflammation and Suppuration. 



A considerable number of species of bacteria have been 

 found in acute inflammatory and suppurative conditions, and of 

 these many have been proved to be causally related, whilst of 

 sorae others the exact action has not yet been fully determined. 



Ogston, who was one of the first to study this question (in 

 1 881), found that the organisms most frequently present were 

 micrococci, of which some were arranged irregularly in clusters 

 ^staphylococci), whilst others formed chains (streptococci). He 

 found that the former were more common in circumscribed acute 

 abscesses, the latter in spreading suppurative conditions. Rosen- 

 bach shortly afterwards ( 1 884), by means of cultures, differentiated 

 several varieties of micrococci, to which he gave the following 

 special names : staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, staphylococcus 

 pyogenes albus, streptococcus pyogenes, micrococcus pyogenes tenuis. 

 Other organisms have been met with in suppuration, such as 

 staphylococcus epidermidis albus (Welch), staphylococcus pyogenes 

 citreus, staphylococcus cereus ■ albus, staphylococcus cereus flavus, 

 bacillus pyogenes foetidus (Passet), bacillus coli communis, bacillus 

 lactis aerogenes, bacillus aerogenes capsulatus, bacillus pyocyancus, 

 micrococcus tetragenus , pneum,ococcus , pneum.obacillus, diplococcus 

 intracellularis meningitidis, and others. 



In secondary inflammations and suppurations following acute 

 diseases the corresponding organisms have been found in some 

 cases, such as gonococcus, pneumococcus of Fraenkel, pneumo- 

 bacillus of Friedlander, and the typhoid bacillus. 



Suppuration is also produced by the actinomyces and the 

 glanders bacillus, and sometimes chronic tubercular lesions have 

 a suppurative character. 



Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus. — Microscopical Characters. 

 — This organism is a spherical coccus about .9 /a in diameter, 

 which grows irregularly in clusters or masses (Fig. 65), and 

 occasionally short chains of 4 to 10 units may be seen, but may 

 readily be distinguished from short chains of Streptococcus by 

 the fact that the lines of division between cocci lie parallel with 



