Actinomycosis pulmonis as a primary condition, though uncommon in America, has been observed rather frequently abroad. In the German literature Aschoff, Heuser, Rutinmeyer, Köster, and Kashiwanuva report such cases in detail, the latter describing four instances, while Lindt described a single case of primary involvement of the apices. In America, case reports of only a very limited number of this type have been recorded, owing perhaps, to a great extent, to the relative infrequency of the various types of this ailment. The disease may be acute or chronic, local or general. The symptoms vary within wide limits; they may be pronounced or, on the other hand, indefinite.
Actinomycosis, as we know, is an infectious disease caused by a specific micro-organism, Actinomyces bovis, originally named "ray fungus" by Bollinger and Hartz. It must not be confounded with the so-called pseudotuberculosis, streptothrix or cladothrix infections or atypical actinomycotic processes described by J.