518 
VERANUS A. MOORE. 
remarks were diagnosed clinically by Dr. W. L. Williams, who 
kindly sent them to me for a bacteriological examination. They 
include the forms known as scirrhous cord and closed abscesses 
from different parts of the body. There is a difference of 
opinion concerning the etiology of these lesions. Bollinger, 
Rivolta, Rabe, and Johne have found in them a peculiar species 
of micro-organism, which has been given a variety of names, but 
generally designated in more recent publications as Micrococcus 
ascoformans. These authors look upon botryomycosis, in con¬ 
sequence of this supposed single causative agent, as a specific dis¬ 
ease. A number of works on comparative surgery and pathol¬ 
ogy treat it as such. On the other hand, Kitt, Hell and de Jong 
have failed to find this organism, but in its stead they isolated 
Micrococcus pyogenes aureus. The extent to which other bac¬ 
teria or fungi are involved in these lesions does not seem to be 
clear. Gay ( 1 . c.) found a streptococcus associated with a mi¬ 
crococcus in four cases. In two cases the cultures were sterile. 
In my study of these lesions, I sought diligently for the sup¬ 
posed specific M. ascoformans in cover-glass preparations, in 
many and varied cultures, and in sections of the thickened cord 
and walls of the closed abscesses, but invariably with negative 
results. During the last two years I have thus examined six 
cases reported by the surgeon in charge to be characteristic 
botryomycosis. Four of these were in the spermatic cord and 
two were closed abscesses located elsewhere on the body. From 
three of these, the two abscesses and one cord, I obtained pure 
cultures of M. pyogenes aureus. All of the media inoculated 
from the other three cases remained sterile. These were of long 
standing. 
The micrococcus obtained from one of the abscesses was very 
virulent both for rabbits and horses. In the inoculated horses 
extensive suppurative lesions developed in four days. The rab¬ 
bits died of septicaemia within thirty-six hours. 
In another case' of recent origin, following castration, pure 
cultures of a streptococcus were obtained from the inflamed 
cord. This, however, cannot be considered as the cause of 
