ANTISEPTIC THERAPEUTICS. 
663 
In catarrhal pneumonia the majority of the cases are caused 
by the presence of the staphylococcus and streptococcus of sup¬ 
puration. It frequently happens that pneumonia occurs in the 
course of, or shortly after the convalescence from influenza. In 
these cases both the influenza bacillus and the pneumococcus 
are present. Again the pneumococcus and the staphylococci 
operate simultaneously and produce a purulent pneumonia with 
abscesses as the conspicuous feature. It was not until 1892, 
after the great epidemic of influenza, that there was found sim¬ 
ultaneously by Canon and Pfeiffer, a bacterium which con¬ 
formed at least in large part to the requirements of specificity. 
It cannot be positively proven that this bacillus is the cause of 
influenza, but from the fact that the bacillus can be found only 
incases of influenza, that its presence corresponds with the 
course of the disease in that it is present as long as the purulent 
secretions last, and then disappears, and that Pfeiffer was able 
to demonstrate its presence in all cases of uncomplicated influ¬ 
enza, it follows that his conclusion that the bacillus is specific 
is certainly justifiable. 
The experiments of Delvine and Kole showed that the 
toxicity of the cultures resides not in a soluble toxin but in the 
bodies of the bacilli. The outcome of the researches was the 
total failure to produce immunity, and the subject is as suscep¬ 
tible as before, if not more so. 
Recent researches in actinomycosis have changed the view 
held by some bacteriologists in regard to the actinomyces, ana 
have caused them to regard the organism as a bacillus. If it 
be a bacillus, the central zone of granular cocci-like elements is 
to be regarded as consisting of individuals in process of rapid 
division and spore formation; the mycelial zone as consisting 
:>f perfect individuals, and the peripheral zone as consisting of 
individuals partly degenerated through the activity of the cells 
md tissue juices. The blood is known to have germicidal 
properties and these properties have been studied by Von 
bordor, who reaches some interesting conclusions. He finds 
diat increased alkalescence of the blood raises its germicidal 
