The technic of modern operations for hernia / by Alexander Hugh Ferguson ... Illustrated by reproductions of original drawings from the author's collection.

Ferguson, Alexander Hugh.

Date:: 1907

Credit: The technic of modern operations for hernia / by Alexander Hugh Ferguson ... Illustrated by reproductions of original drawings from the author's collection. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

90/376 page 86

$facultative (typhoid and cholera bacilli). Obligative bacteria are those which must be either one or the other; as, for instance, the lepra bacillus, which is a strict or obligative parasite. According to the products of their metabolism, bactaria may be clas- sified as: 1. Aerogenic—gas-producers. 2. Zymogenic—fermentative bacteria. 3. Saprogenic—putrefactive bacteria.^ 4. Chromogenic—color-producers. 5. Photogenic—phosphorescent bacteria. PYOGENIC BACTERIA. ]\Ianv bacteria are responsible for the formation of pus, bvtt those which are classed particularly as pus-producing germs are the following: I. COCCL I. Staphylococcus pyogenes: (a) aureus; (b) albus ; (c) citreus. Streptococcus pyogenes. ^Micrococcus gonorrhea (gonococcus). Diplococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus). Diplococcus meningitidis (meningococcus). II. Bacilli. Bacillus pyocyaneus. Bacillus coli communis. Bacillus typhosus. Bacillus tuberculosis. Bacillus of Friedlander (pneumo-bacillus). In connection with infection of wounds made by the herniotomist, it is well to direct attention for a moment to those micro-organisms which J. Collins Warren, of Boston, has named the surgical bacteria, because of the frequency with which the surgeon has to contend with them. First among these is the staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, an organism that is widely distributed in nature, and is always found on the surface of the body, be-' neath the finger-nails, in the saliva, in the dust of the street, on the floors and walls of houses and hospitals, in the air and in the water, and wherever it may have been deposited from a previous infection. The staphylococci are about one micron in diameter and have an arrangement resembling a bunch of grapes, from which they derive their name. The entire group of staphylococci grows readily on all the various culture media and at tem- peratures as low as 6° C, and as high as 44P C. The staphylococcus is an exceedingly tenacious germ, retaining its vitality for a long time under the most adverse circumstances. It is killed rapidly by exposure to live steam and by 3 per cent, solution of carbolic acid. All the staphylococci cause local suppurative inflammations, and while they exhibit but little tendency to spread, they occasionally are the cause of a fatal septicemia or pyemia. The aureus is the most common and also the most virulent of the staphylo- cocci. The albus is the least virulent variety. The citreus is very uncom- mon and is alwavs associated with the other varieties of staphylococci. The$