THE PRODUCTION OF URINARY CALCULI BY THE DEVITALIZATION AND INFECTION OF TEETH IN DOGS WITH STREPTOCOCCI FROM CASES OF NEPHROLITHIASIS

Infection is regarded as a common cause of calcification in tissues, but the hypothesis that certain microorganisms which infect man may have peculiar power in this respect is not generally believed. It was suggested to one of us during experiments with a streptococcus isolated from an excised piece of muscle in a case of calcifying myositis. This strain was peculiar, in comparison with strains of streptococci from the more common forms of myositis, in that it not only produced marked lesions in the muscles of rabbits when injected intravenously, but also produced very early precipitation of calcium salts in the lesions.¹ The etiologic relationship of streptococci to the formation of gallstones was demonstrated by one of us a number of years ago in experimental cholecystitis produced by intravenous injection of streptococci from cholecystitis in man.²

During the preparation of immune serums, in which repeated intravenous injections of dead streptococci having