MEMBRANOUS INFLAMMATIONS OF MUCOUS SURFACES CAUSED BY THE PNEUMOCOCCUS.

Cary and Lyon¹ describe a remarkable case of acute lobar pneumonia in a boy of eleven years during which a profuse membranous exudation appeared upon nearly all the mucous surfaces open to inspection. There was also clinical and other evidence that the fibrinous inflammation involved also the pleura and the gastro-intestinal tract. A protracted and severe course terminated by lysis, and the case ended in recovery. The exudation was observed upon the mucous membranes of the mouth, tongue, throat, nose, eyes, glans penis and anus. Pure cultures of the pneumococcus were obtained from the eyes and nose, mixed cultures of pneumococcus and the golden pus coccus from the mouth and sputum. There seems to be little doubt that the pneumococcus was the essential factor in this remarkably widespread process. While pneumococcic inflammation of serous membranes are only too frequent, fibrinous exudations upon mucous membranes due to the pneumococcus seem