A Study of the Changes in Virulence of the Pneumococcus at Different Periods of Growth and under Different Conditions of Cultivation in Media

It has been possible by rapid transfers alone, not only to maintain the virulence for mice of the pneumococcus in artificial media but also to restore a certain degree of virulence to cultures previously rendered non-virulent by less rapid transfers in the same medium. For these results the presence of enriching fluids such as blood or serum is not required. In addition it has been shown that attenuated cultures, which had been repeatedly demonstrated to be avirulent for mice at the 24 hour period of growth, exhibited marked pathogenicity if injected during, or especially at the commencement of the period of maximum growth when the growth energy may be considered at its height. In these cultures, however, the increase in virulence was usually less than in others transferred repeatedly at frequent intervals. The significance of these results is not necessarily limited to pneumococcus infections. Other lines of investigation are suggested which may possibly help to clarify certain conceptions of the relation which the different activities of the bacterial cell as an agent of infection bear to one another and to the host in various infectious diseases. Although the pneumococcus may offer an especially striking example for purposes of demonstration by experiment, it is not probable that the close relation between the vegetative power or growth energy of the pneumococcus and its pathogenic power is peculiar to this organism. The vegetative power may depend upon many conditions affecting both the host and the bacterial agent of infection. Different species of bacteria may acquire or develop it in different degrees under different conditions. But it must assuredly form the basis not only of the essentially parasitic but also of the more special toxicogenic activities of the bacteria.