On the cultivation of bacteria / by Edgar M. Crookshank.

  • Crookshank, Edgar M. (Edgar March), 1858-1928.
Date:
[1886]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the cultivation of bacteria / by Edgar M. Crookshank. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    the soil or in food-substances, which can be sprinkled over the surface of the gelatin, and the colonies which develope studied as already described. Lastly, if these biological appearances may be taken with other characteristics into consideration in the determination of species, we have a basis for a classification of bacteria into species, of which at present we stand in need. These methods of artificial cultivation assist us also in deter- mining the position in the scale of fungi of certain micro-organisms which is at present doubtful. In illustration of this, and in order to bring to your notice the specimens before you, I shall, in con- clusion, say a few words with regard to the fungus Actinomyces. Actinomycosis is a disease occurring not uncommonly in cattle, but very rarely in man. For the accounts of it, we are indebted chiefly to the writings of Bollinger, Israel, and Ponfick. The disease is caused by a parasite known as Actinomyces, or the “ ray- fungus.” The parasite appears in the form of a rosette, composed of club-shaped elements, and these rosettes are colourless or of a yellowish or yellowish-green tinge, and visible to the naked eye. The fungus is believed to gain an entrance to the animal by the mouth, being taken in with the food, possibly through the medium of a wound of the gum, or a carious tooth. In whatever manner it has gained access to the living organism, it sets up infla- mation, resulting in the formation of a new growth, composed chiefly of round cells, which resembles a tuberculous nodule. These nodules may break down and suppurate, or they may go on increasing in size; fibrous tissue developing between the nodules, large tumours eventually result, containing purulent cavities and excavations. In the slimy detritus, the little pale-yellow grains of fungus can be detected. In cattle, the lower jaw is usually affected, and then the upper jaw and neighbouring parts. The organism may also occur in nodular tumours of the pulmonary, subcutaneous, and intermuscular tissue ; it is the cause of “ wooden tongue,” and has also been variously described, before its true nature was understood, as bone-canker, bone-tubercle, osteo-sarcoma. In man the pulmonary formations tend to break down early, forming fistuloe and sinuses, with the clinical characters of empyema. In one case, there were symptoms of chronic bronchitis with foetid expectoration. In other cases, the disease originating in the lung, spread to the prae vertebral tissues. If the fungus attacks bones, it produces caries. This has been observed to occur in the bodies of the vertebrae. In another group of cases, the disease has been described as commencing in the intestinal canal. The parasite has also been detected in the crypts of the tonsils of healthy pigs, and a similar, if not identical, fungus in a diseased condition of the spermatic duct of the horse. The disease has been [30]