H. Bold 
281 
Frequent trials have been made to obtain this organism in pure 
culture, but apparently without success. Possibly both Unna 1 and 
Whitfield 2 had at one time, without realising the fact, a pure culture 
of the organism, but it is of course impossible now to be certain about 
it. 
As I announced in my preliminary note (1909), I have succeeded in 
obtaining pure cultures of the bottle-bacillus. Since the appearance of 
my publication, I have made a study of the morphological and biological 
characters of this organism, which, for reasons given in the course of this 
paper, I shall henceforth refer to as Dermatophyton Malassez (or “ D. M.” 
for brevity). 
Occurrence of the Derrnato’phyton Malassez. 
As shown by Unna, this organism is found in many conditions of the 
skin. It is present in larger or smaller numbers, alone or associated 
with other bacteria, in Rosacea seborrhoica, Pityriasis capitis, Alopecia 
pityroides, Alopecia seborrhoica, Alopecia excematosa, Pityriasis rubra 
seborrhoica, and in Comedones. The organism is also almost invariably 
found in apparently healthy persons, in horny cells and the sebum of 
the skin, especially of the scalp. 
There is certainly a great variation in the number of D. M. to be 
met with on individual skins. The more a skin inclines to a seborrhoic 
and pityroid state, the more abundantly are the organisms present, but 
in examining a large number of scalps, I did not come across one case, 
where the presence of D. M. could not be demonstrated. I might 
mention here, that in animals (Rats and Rabbits), I did not encounter 
the organism; my examinations in this direction are however too few 
to justify a definite statement. 
Methods. 
In examining for the D. M. it is perhaps best to use scrapings from 
the scalp. These may easily be obtained, by drawing the edge of a 
slide over the scalp, at the same time pressing the slide firmly against 
1 Unna (1894), pp. 233 and 234, says “An abgekratzten Hornzellen habe ich micro- 
scopisch ofters grossere Mengen der Flaschenbacillen constatiert, docli die Culturen 
ergaben gleichzeitig Morokokken.” 
2 Whitfield (1907, p. 76) states that “ The organism has not been grown in pure 
culture, but on one occasion I succeeded in getting an impure culture, which however 
rapidly died out.” 
