Bacterial or Infective Endocarditis. The Gibson Lectures for 1930
In my first lecture I sought briefly to set forth certain fundamental differences between rheumatic cardiac disease and infective endocarditis. In the former, although the evidence points strongly towards the agency of streptococci, yet the infecting organisms and their manner of action cannot be said to be generally recognized , in the latter the various infectious agents which are involved are clearly demonstrable. In the former, the characteristic?indeed almost specific anatomical changes spread to endocardium and pericardium as they do elsewhere to synovial surfaces, from alterations arising in the tissues beneath; in the latter, the infection seems to come from the surface.