158 
GEORGE FLEMING. 
or more corfidia growing from each by means of their narrow ex¬ 
tremity, something like a bunch of grapes. 
The various forms the conidia may assume are shown by 
Jolme, Ponfick, Harz and Israel; but the most diverse opinions 
are entertained as to the development and growth of the fungus 
itself. 
It is probable that when the fungus-tufts become calcified, as 
they are often found to be, their growth has ceased, and they can 
no longer fructify. 
Culture experiments have hitherto not been very successful, 
so that we are still in the dark as to the process of, or length of 
time necessary for, development. Clinical observation and ex¬ 
perimental inoculation, however, would go to prove that spon¬ 
taneous or accidental actinomykotic tumors take longer to grow 
than those which are experimentally produced. 
Israel was of opinion that the mycelium of the fungus ob¬ 
taining access to the tonsils of mankind and there producing 
germs or spores, gave rise to actinomykosis; and Johne believes 
he'found corroborative evidence of this in making a careful ex¬ 
amination of the tonsils in the section of a pig’s head. Extern¬ 
ally, these appeared quite healthy, and on pressing some of the 
glandulse only the ordinary turbid mucus fluid they usually con¬ 
tain was expelled; but from others there was expressed a yellow, 
thick, grumous matter,, something like pus, and which on exami¬ 
nation by means of the microscope was found to have a very 
great number of actmomyces tufts of various sizes and in differ¬ 
ent stages of development, some of them even calcareous. A 
section of the amygdaloid cavity showed that it was much dilated, 
and its lymphoid tissue normal, as a rule ; only in some prepara¬ 
tions of the part did this tissue appear infiltrated with small cells. 
In some of the glandulse were small, delicate, but rigid vegetable 
particles, which were for the most part fragments of corn or 
barley husk; and on close inspection there were perceived, either 
on the surface of these particles or clustered on the beard of the 
barley, with few exceptions, crowds of pear-shaped hyphenless 
conidia, which in form, size, etc., differed in no respect from those 
found in the actinomykosis nodules. 
