Hecht-Weinberg-Gradwohl Reaction in Syphilis. 367 



178 (1925) 



Pneumococcus grouping on a thousand cases. 



By L. W. FAMULENER and LUCILE ROBEY. 



[From the Pathological Laboratory, St. Luke's Hospital, New York 



City.] 



An analysis of the results obtained by the pneumococcus 

 grouping test (Rockefeller Institute method) performed upon 

 1,000 sputa from hospital patients suffering from acute respira- 

 tory infections showed, roughly, that only 80 per cent, of the 

 specimens submitted for examination yielded a sufficient number 

 of pneumococci for group determination. The washed sputum 

 was either injected intraperitoneal^ into a mouse, or cultured 

 in the Avery medium, or by both methods in some instances, for a 

 growth of the organism. The presence of the pneumococcus was 

 determined by its morphological characteristics in stained prep- 

 arations, and by its bile solubility. The remaining 20 per cent, 

 of sputa either failed to show the pneumococcus in culture, or it 

 was present in such scant numbers that the serological test was 

 considered to be of a negative character. In general, those sputa 

 yielding negative results came from patients suffering from in- 

 fluenza, bronchopneumonia, pulmonary tuberculosis, etc. Stained 

 preparations of materials or cultures from such cases usually re- 

 vealed either the streptococcus, staphylococcus, B. influenzce, or 

 B. Friedlander (very rarely), as the predominating organism. Not 

 infrequently the specimen submitted to the laboratory consisted 

 principally of saliva, so it could not be considered a true sputum, 

 as only the usual mouth organisms developed in culture. There- 

 fore the latter group of tests will be excluded from further con- 

 sideration in this report, and attention will be directed to the 

 group where the laboratory tests gave positive results. 



The study embraces approximately 800 cases which were 

 admitted to St. Luke's Hospital during the years 191 8 to 1921, 

 inclusive. The average percentage incidence of each group of 

 pneumococci for this period was as follows: Group I, 11.5 per 

 cent.; Group II, 4.9 per cent.; Group III, 13.6 per cent.; and 



