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MICEOOKGANISMS OP THE MOUTH. 139
what organisms are habitually found in the mouth and separat-
ing these from the occasional or frequent visitors there. These
visitors are of no consequence to us, except as they happen to
be pathogenic in character. The great bulk of them are harmless.
At one time, when I was studying this subject, I found that
very much dreaded organism, streptococcus pyogenes, in the
saliva and under the finger nails of six nurses in a hospital ward.
All of them had been engaged more or less closely in the handling
of suppurations in which this organism was the principal factor,
and, of course, would have been in serious danger from any
lesions that would have allowed the organisms to enter their
tissue. From observations made at the time, it was my belief
that they had infected some operation wounds that otherwise
would have escaped infection. A week later I was unable to find
any trace of these organisms in the saliva of these persons.
I have cultivated microorganisms from the mouth in several
different cities and noted particularly the varieties found. Fur-
ther, I have compared cultivations annually for many years with
a view of, in some degree, separating the regular habitues of
the saliva from those organisms that grow accidentally, or are
caught in the mouth, but do not belong there. As a matter of
fact, the great bulk of microorganisms found in the mouth are
there by accident, and yet it requires very persistent work to
separate them from the regular habitues of the mouth.
In 1891 and 1892, in Chicago, I found rather a large bacillus
growing in chains that stained in distinct lines, running diago-
nally around each, other parts of the cell not taking the stain.
This made a very beautiful appearance as a mounted specimen.
It occurred in almost every mouth examined, both among stu-
dents and patients in the infirmary, and it continued during
these two years. The next year, however, it had disappeared.
By this method of elimination, I have reduced mouth micro-
organisms proper — those that are found in practically every
mouth, either in children or grown-up people, in which there are
some differences — to about twelve or fourteen varieties, cer-
tainly not more than fourteen. Of these, only about one-half can
be cultivated in artificial media.
By far the most important of these that I have ever exam-
ined carefully, and the one that is found in every mouth, is the
streptococcus media, streptococcus buccalis, or caries fungus.
This is in the saliva of young children, and in old people, and all
ages between. A short bacillus that was seen and described by
Dr. Miller, but not named by him, which I have called bacillus