208 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Mar., 1899. 
these various names were each supposed to represent a distinct form of disease, 
recent researches with the aid of the microscope have shown that they are one 
and all the same, and consequently are now classed under one head—viz., 
actinomycosis. From the early part of the present century till 1875 numerous 
well-known observers, including Dick, Langenbeck, Lebert, Rivolta, Johne, 
Robin, and Perroncito, wrote most elaborate essays on this disease. None of 
these observers, however, proved conclusively the true nature of the cases which 
they described. In 1876 Bollinger threw an entirely new light on the subject 
by the accurate description and identification of the characteristic micro- 
organism which has given the name to this disease. His investigations applied 
only to cattle; but in the following year J. Israel described a similar affection 
in man, and in 1879 Ponfick brought strong evidence to prove the identity of 
the disease in man with that which occurs in cattle. Since this time the identity 
of the two diseases has been generally recognised, though no definite casual 
relation has yet been traced between them. 
In advanced stages of the disease the fungus may be detected with the 
naked eye in the muco-purulent discharge or in a scraping from the cut surface 
of a growth. The tufts of the fungus vary in size under different circumstances 
from a grain of sand to that of a pin’s head, and appear to be yellowish white 
in colour. On examination under the microscope these little tufts appear to 
be made up of a mass of cluh-shaped bodies resembling, to a certain extent, 
soda-water botties with the narrow ends attached to the centre, thus forming a 
delicate-rayed rosette; in fact, they will call to mind, on focusing in turn the 
centre and the periphery, the appearance of a composite flower. 
In some cases, especially in the early stage, the fungus is made up almost 
entirely of a mass of delicate filaments or mycelium, which haye been proved 
by numerous observers to be the active or vegetable stage of the organisms. 
My triend Prof. Crookshank, of King’s College, London, has shown that the 
club-sbaped end is in reality the terminal part of the filaments; moreover, he 
is of opinion that the clubs are mucilaginous expansions of the sheath of 
filaments which become highly developed when the organism is growing in the 
animal tissues. In some cases of actinomycosis that | have examined lately I 
find neither clubs nor definite mycelium, but a mass of what appears to be 
micrococci and apparently short broken-up filaments. ‘That I was dealing 
with actinomycosis was subsequently proved by placing a little of the growth 
on several tubes of agar-agar, when, after several weeks’ incubation at 
37 degrees Centigrade, 1 obtained a series of the most luxuriant cultures of 
the actinomyces furgus. The naked-eye appearance of a cultivation of the 
actinomyces fungus is very striking and absolutely characteristic; in fact, I 
know of no other organism that bears even the slightest resemblance to it. 
The growth after a few days on the surface of agar-agar or blood-serum at the 
temperature of the blood forms little white, shining, moist colonies, which may 
remain stationary or increase and coalesce. In a week or ten days, sometimes 
earlier and sometimes after several weeks, the culture turns a bright yellow or 
yellowish-brown. After a time a powdery sulphur eftlorescenco makes its 
appearance on the surface of the culture, which at this time begins to develop 
a peculiar sour smell. The stage of efflorescence corresponds with the breaking 
up of the filaments into masses of cocci and chains closely resembling strepto- 
cocci. Preparation of the fungus, either from cultivation or from the animal 
tissues, can be stained readily in a variety of ways, Gram’s and Plaut’s being 
the principal methods used ; moreover, it is interesting to know that in sections 
of an actinomycotic growth the tissues can be contrasted with some differential 
stain, which greatly facilitates the detection of the fungus with the microscope. 
From this brief sketch it would appear that the detection of actinomycosis 
was an easy matter. So it is in the majority of cases; sometimes an accurate 
diagnosis by means of the microscope, without even the aid of anilyne dye, can 
be made in three minutes ; on the other hand, I have met cases which baffled 
several of us working closely together for several days, and the positive result 
of the diagnosis was obtained solely by persistent work with the microscope. 
