92 
Philippine Journal of Science 
1920 
experiment Gilmer and Moody have been able to identify the 
preponderance of streptococci in aerobic and anaerobic cultures, 
aseptically obtained from pus in the foci, or the seat of acute, 
chronic, or latent infections in the maxillae and teeth. Strep- 
tococcus hemoliticus was found in acute abscess; S. viridans, in 
chronic; and S. mucosus was obtained only once. 
Occasionally Staphylococcus albus and S. aureus have been 
isolated by some observers in the aerobic cultures, and also 
Micrococcus catarrhalis and some other unidentified saprophytic 
microorganisms. The streptococci in the anaerobic cultures 
are rarely obtained pure. Some cultures showed the presence 
in large numbers of Bacillus fusiformis, while in a few test 
tubes there were found pure cultures of this bacillus. C. C. 
Bass and F. M. Johns give as a specific cause of alveolodental 
abscess the Entamoeba buccalis and possibly other species that 
infect and destroy the peridental membrane. 
While Hartzell and Henrici do not claim in their experiments 
that the streptococcus is an etiological factor in dental abscesses 
and in Pyorrhoea alveolaris, nevertheless from the standpoint 
of metastatic abscesses they think it is of paramount importance 
that such microorganisms are constantly present in lesions with 
ulcerated surfaces; and they probably do invade deeper tissues 
and gain entrance into the circulatory channels. 
Henry L. Ulrich says that out of one hundred seven cases of 
dental abscesses with bacteriological examination in the Minne- 
sota Hospital, one hundred showed the presence of Streptococcus 
viridans; and out of fifty-two of his private cases, fifty also 
showed the presence of the same microorganism. There were 
also found with the above microorganism. Staphylococcus albus, 
S. aureus, and Micrococcus catarrhalis. 
Hartzell, Henrici, and Leonard, in their posterior researches, 
made the assertion that they found streptococci in periapical 
abscesses and in pyorrhoea, and that these streptococci give rise 
in animals to inflammatory lesions in the cardiac muscle, vege- 
tative growth in the valves, articular infection, inflammation 
of the blood vessels, and focal and diffuse infection of the 
kidneys. Similar lesions were observed in human beings upon 
autopsy, and these investigators believe that the lesions men- 
tioned were caused by streptococci. 
Recent bacteriological investigations carried out in the de- 
partment of medicine of the University of Minnesota disclosed 
the constant occurrence of Streptococcus viridans in chronic 
dental abscess and pyorrhoea; and, although Entamoeba buccalis 
