140 
Journal of the Mitchell Society 
[December 
In the ordinary cases of acute follicular tonsilitis the styphylo- 
coccus is the commonist organism found. It can be easily 
obtained from the white fibrinous plugs in and around the open- 
ings of the tonsilar follicles. 
Of the fifty-eight cases of throat infection presented in this 
paper, thirty were subjected to a bacteriological examination and 
as the other cases which were not so examined developed within a 
few weeks and in the same locality as those examined, it is not 
illogical to conclude that they had as their cause the same organ 
ism. 
Technique . — The bacteriological examination consisted in first 
making from the exudate covering the tonsils or fauces, two film 
preparations. One was stained with Loefflers alkaline mythylene 
blue and one by Neisser’s method. The last method of staining 
has the advantage of clearly defining the polar bodies, which are to 
some extent characteristic of the bacillus diphtherise. 
Secondly with the aid of a cotton swab three blood serum tubes 
were inoculated from the exudate. These were incubated from 
twelve to twenty hours and from the colonies which formed film 
preparations were made and stained by the above methods. 
The result of these examinations showed constantly present 
both in the films made from the throat and from the colonies, an 
organism having the characteristic chain grouping of streptococcus. 
Associated with this organism was a diphlococcus of rather large 
diameters which did not grow well on the ordinary media. 
In no instance were there organisms found which at all resem- 
bled the bacillus of diphtheria. In the films made from the 
throat, bacilli were often present which differed from the diph- 
theria bacilli in that their protoplasm stained uniformly, there 
was no “barred” appearance, no polar bodies, the organisms were 
not curved or clubbed but were straight bacilli with rounded ends. 
Symptoms . — The symptoms manifested in these cases were those 
of an acute infection. The onset was sudden with a chill or chilly 
sensation followed by headache, rather severe backache, a rapid 
rise of temperature to 103-104 deg. F., a large hightensioned 
pulse, which compared with the degree of fever was slow, usually 
about 90-100 per minute. 
