520 BACTERIOLOGY. 
panied by rhinitis and purulent inflammation of the 
mucous membranes of the nose. In one of his six cases 
Weichselbaum succeeded in obtaining in pure culture 
diplococci from the nasal secretion. Scheurer, in his 
eighteen cases, found the diplococci in the nasal secre- 
tions of all of them during life. In fifty healthy in- 
dividuals examined they were found in the nasal secre- 
tions of only two of them, one being a man suffering 
at the time from a severe cold. This man, it is inter- 
esting to note, had been engaged in disinfecting a room 
which had previously been occupied by a patient with 
cerebro-spinal meningitis. 
‘Bacteriological Diagnosis. By means of lumbar punc- 
ture fluid can be readily obtained without danger from 
the spinal canal. The microscopical examination will 
frequently reveal numerous cells crowded with diplo- 
cocci. When considerable quantities are inoculated 
upon Loffler’s blood-serum mixture or upon glycerin 
agar, as a rule, a greater or less number of colonies 
having the characteristics already described will de- 
velop. The value, clinically, of the examination is 
that about 40 per cent. of the cases due to this coccus 
recover, while almost all of those due to the pneumo- 
coccus and streptococcus die. In fifty-five cases exam- 
ined by Councilman, Mallory, and Wright, diplococci 
were found in the fluid removed by lumbar puncture in 
thirty-eight, either by microscopical examination or 
cultures. 
The longest time after the onset of the disease in which 
positive results were obtained by culture was twenty- 
nine days. Ina number of cases examined by us for 
Northrup a rather smaller percentage of the cases were 
found to be due to this diplococcus. In many cases 
