page_title: Alexander Ogston
section_title: Staphylococcus
hierarchical_section_title: Alexander Ogston / Staphylococcus
caption_attribution_description: Bacterial cells of Staphylococcus aureus, which is one of the causal agents of mastitis in dairy cows. Its large capsule protects the organism from attack by the cow's immunological defenses. This image was taken at 50,000X magnification on a Transmission Electron Microscope of a heavy-metal coated replica of a freeze dried sample, (TEM) Plate #.9514. Sourced from Plate #.9513's information. 日本語: 乳牛における乳腺炎の一因である黄色ブドウ球菌の細菌性細胞
context_page_description: Sir Alexander Ogston KCVO MD CM LLD was a British surgeon, famous for his discovery of Staphylococcus.
context_section_description: Ogston was reported to have called on Joseph Lister and rigorously followed his antiseptic principles. These are aptly phrased in a small ditty composed by his students.
  The spray, the spray, the antiseptic spray
  
  A.O. would shower it morning, night and day
  
  For every sort of scratch
  
  Where others would attach
  
  A sticking plaster patch
  
  He gave the spray.
  Ogston followed the work of other contemporaries such as Koch, J.C. Ewart from Edinburgh (published on different types of bacteria), and Kohler from Berne (who found bacteria in cases of osteomyelitis and 'strumitis'.
  
  Following his examination of the organisms from the abscess of James Davidson, Ogston used the shed behind his house as a laboratory (receiving a grant (£50) from the British Medical Association (BMA), with which he purchased a Zeiss microscope and the methyl-aniline dye used by Koch) to continue his research.
  
  Following Kochs postulates and staining methods, Ogston set about isolating the causative organism of Davidson's wound. By experiment Ogston concluded that the optimal conditions for cultivation of this organism were hen's egg medium grown in small bottles shielded from contamination by glass 'shades. Using samples from 82 abscesses, Ogston successfully isolated bacteria from 65 samples, the others being referred to as "cold".  He was then able to transfer pure colonies to guinea-pigs, white mice or wild mice.
  Ogston soon realised there were '"two forms of micrococcus: one in the form of chains or necklaces to which the name 'streptococcus' had been given and produced the more violent inflammation, and the other growing in masses or clusters [like the roe of a fish], to which I gave the name 'staphylococcus' which cause a less violent inflammatory disease'. He also noted that a transferring a 1/146 016 000 dilution of the original pus sample could induce abscesses in new subjects. Ogston demonstrated that these bacteria could be killed by heat or carbolic acid, fulfilling Kochs postulates. He also noted that " micrococci so deleterious when injected" were seemingly "harmless on the surface of wounds and ulcers". An observation of the existence of some staphylococci as part of the normal flora.
  Ogston encountered a great deal of difficulty convincing the medical establishment of his observations on Staphylococcus.
  The Aberdeen branch of the BMA, received his findings with disbelief. The editor of the British Medical Journal stated at the time 'can anything good come out of Aberdeen'. After a careful study of the evidence presented by Ogston, his contemporary, Joseph Lister agreed with his findings however, another peer, Watson Cheyne was still sceptical.
  Given this local skeptisim, Ogston decided to present his discoveries to a surgical congress in Berlin where he had previously presented a paper "genu valgum" on 9 April 1880.
  Ogston delivered this presentation on absesses in German which was then published. He was subsequently made a 'Fellow' of the German Surgical Society despite his youth (36 years old).
  The next year Ogston published his observations in the British Medical Journal. After this point his papers were refused and instead he published in the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology.
caption: Transmission electron micrograph of Staphylococcus aureus
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