A STUDY OF THE MICROBES OF PUS. 
717 
Four other germs are often present in pus : three of which, 
Staphylococcus Passetii, Trevisan ; Staphylococcus cereus , Trevi- 
san ; and Staphylococcus candidus, Warrington, are non-patho- 
genic. No experiments have been made with the fourth, 
Micrococcus Rosenbachii , Trevisan. Of pathogenic microbes 
Bacillus pyocyaneus is probably most malignant, while the 
Staphylococcus pyogenes , var. aureus , is most often found. The 
most important advances of late have been in the line of anti¬ 
septic treatment. 
Very careful observations have been made to show the 
relative importance of the different antiseptic agents. Dr. A. 
C. Abott, of Johns Hopkins University, after making a series of 
experiments with corrosive sublimate, finds two serious ob¬ 
jections to the use of that agent. First, the albumen of the 
tissue tends to diminish the strength of, or renders entirely 
inert, the solution employed. Second, the integument of the 
tissue is materially injured by the applications of solutions 
of this salt. Hence this author would not place corrosive 
sublimate among the best of disinfectants. Similar objec¬ 
tions have been raised to the use of carbolic acid. But with 
all the work upon this part of the subject no definite conclu¬ 
sions have yet been reached. Peroxide of hydrogen and hv- 
dro-naphthol are comparatively new agents, to which the 
above stated objections do not apply, and are being used by 
surgeons, as local antiseptics, with fair success. 
\ 
LABORATORY WORK. 
Preliminary to the study of the different germs of pus, it 
was necessary to prepare media in which they might be 
grown. Bouillon, agar-agar, gelatin and sterilized boiled po¬ 
tato in tubes were the media used. Bouillon is made by 
using one pound clean, finely chopped beef, to which is added 
a litre of water, allowing it to stand about twelve hours, then 
straining, bring to a litre by the addition of more water, then 
adding ten grams of good peptone, five grams of salt and 
enough sodium bicarbonate to neutralize. The gelatin was 
made in a similar manner by the addition of seventy-five 
grams of gelatin before neutralizing ; twenty’grams of agar- 
