In spite of the introduction of chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of the pneumococcic pneumonias, it is still important for a physician to know the type of pneumococcus infecting his patient. For several reasons this knowledge is important not only in prognosis but in treatment: The specific immunity responses which are essential adjuvants to chemotherapeusis are sometimes lacking and must be supplied; pneuomococci may become sulfanilamide fast or sulfapyridine fast, and other conditions may be present or develop when serotherapy is mandatory.
Practicing physicians often deplore their inability to obtain sputum from infants and children.1 Various methods which depend on the collection of what is coughed out and swallowed or of what clings to the respiratory passages or esophagus have been advocated for obtaining pulmonary mucus. Three such methods are here described:
Pharyngeal Swab.—To obtain a pharyngeal swab, the child is gagged with a tongue depressor and made