the mediterranean naturalist 
o2o 
microscope, or even by means of a pocket lens. 
The floated Foraminifera having been dried 
carefully (for this purpose, the tripod, funnel, and 
attached bag, with contents, may be placed near 
a fire until dry), it will be found advisable to sort 
them into three degrees of fineness for greater 
convenience of examination; sieves made of wire- 
gauze of 20, 40, and 80 meshes to the inch being 
used. 
If fine particles of sea-weed, confervas, and other 
fragments of a vegetable character have been 
floated with the Foraminifera they may be destroy- 
ed by soaking the whole “floating” in liquor 
potassae for a few days; afterwards the debris of 
vegetable matter and all traces of potash must be 
washed away with warm water. This process will 
not injure the Foraminifera if not continued too 
long, for even the arenaceous forms resist the 
action of the potash. 
(to be continued.) 
The Natural History of Certain Fevers 
occurring in the Mediterranean 
| BY 
Subg. Capt. M. Louis Hughes, A.M.S. 
( Continued from page 390). 
In the last number I described the rod-like ba- 
cillus, which is at present accepted by European 
pathologists as the proximate cause of Enterica 
(Typhoid fever). Its colonies on agar-agar at the 
temperature cf the blood become visible to the 
naked eye in about 20 hours, and grow steadily 
and evenly over the surface from day to day, as a 
grey film with an indented or branched margin. I 
now pass on to the second fever on our list. 
B. Mediterranean Fever. — In the year 1887 a 
micro-organism, which I shall call the “strepto- 
coccus Miletensis” was discovered in Malta by 
Surg. Capt. Bruce, in the spleens of patients suffer- 
ing from this fever. 
There can be no doubt that this Micro-organism 
(or a product formed by it) is the proximate cause 
of Mediterranean Fever, and there are few diseases 
in which the bacteriological proof is so complete. 
For while the fever itself has such distinct and 
constant features both clinically and pathologi- 
cally as enable it to be distinguished from all 
others, this micro-organism is itself clearly distin- 
guishable from others by its microscopical appear- 
ances and mode of artificial growth. It is to be 
found in those parts of the body where from the 
clinical symptoms one would expect to find it and 
is I hold present in every case of this fever. It 
has been found after death by (l) Bruce in eight 
cases, by (2) Surgeon Gipps, r.n. in two cases and 
by (3) myself in eight cases. 
I know of no other micro-organism present 
under similar circumstances, nor do I know of any 
other disease in which this is present. In each of my 
cases I have carried this micro-organism through 
six generations of pure cultures. Pure growths 
of this streptococcus when introduced, with the 
strictest precautions, into the circulations of 
healthy monkeys, produce an acute fever similar 
to severe cases of Mediterranean Fever occurring 
in man, without causing any local -disturbance at 
the seat of inoculation. 
In the bodies of these monkeys when the fever 
was at its height a micro-organism was found, pre- 
sent in the liver, spleen, and blood, similar in 
every respect to the streptococcus found in man. 
Growths of the micro-organism, obtained from 
these monkeys, after being passed through six 
generations of pure cultures, produced when in- 
troduced into the circulation of healthy monkeys 
a long remittent type of pyrexia lasting from two 
to three months, in every way resembling that so 
common among men in Malta. 
This micro-organism, grows best in nutrient 
material the alkalinity of which is slightly less 
than that of human blood, and at a temperature of 
from 37° to 39° C. On the sloping surface of a 1-^ 
per cent, peptone agar, at a temperature of 37° C., 
its colonies become visible to the naked eye in from 
120 to 125 hours after primary inoculation from 
the human spleen. They first appear as minute, 
transparent, colourless drops on the surface of the 
agar. In about thirty-six hours they become of a 
of a transparent amber colour, and, increasing very 
slowly in size, become opaque in from four to five 
days from their first appearance. 
( 1 ) Army Med. Blue Boole 1890 
(2) Trans. Epidem. Son. Vol. IX. 
(3 ) Lancet Dec. 8th. 1892. 
