548 
D. E. SALMON. 
besides resist the action of caustic potash, with which all the 
rest of the tissue disappears. These heaps of micrococci in 
locality correspond to the papillae, and are on the surface of the 
scab, but underneath the covering epithelium, some parts of this 
having changed into a dry, hard, discolored mass, others con¬ 
taining larger or smaller vesicles filled with fluid.” * 
In the examination of the respiratory organs we are given 
even stronger evidence for connecting these organisms with the 
cause of the disease. In the mucous membrane of the anterior 
surface of the epiglottis, which was only slightly inflamed in its 
sub-mucous tissue, he found— 
“ Lymphatic vessels filled with micrococci. ... In the 
infiltrated, firm, more or less disintegrating parts [of the lung] I 
find great masses of micrococci filling up capillaries and veins, 
and also contained in lymphatics around arteries.f . . . The 
pleura is much swollen, and contains great numbers, continuous 
layers, of lumps of micrococci. The free surface of the membrane 
is in many parts covered with them. The exudation fluid is also 
charged with them as has been mentioned above.” X 
We have here the record of the unbiased savant seeking after 
the truth, and describing what he sees without any attempt to 
draw conclusions or build up theories. It was before Koch’s 
brilliant investigations, identifying the Bacillus anthracis as the 
active principle in charbon virus, had seen the light. There was 
still the greatest doubt as to whether the contagia were essen¬ 
tially animal cells, vegetable organisms, or chemical poisons. It 
would have been premature to have presented the micrococci at 
that time as the cause of the disease, though it is evident from 
these observations that they existed in the tissues of the body 
before the death of the animal. We have consequently two 
questions to consider in an inquiry of this kind; viz., (1) Who is 
entitled to priority for discovering and demonstrating the pres¬ 
ence of micrococci in the tissues and liquids of diseased animals? 
and (2) Who was first in proving the connection between the 
micrococci and the essential constituent of the virus? 
It seems very evident that Dr. Klein discovered the micro¬ 
cocci as early as 1876, but it is equally evident that his investi- 
* Loc. cit., p. 99. 
t Ibid., p. 100. 
t Ibid., p. 101. 
