Instances of meningitis due to the coliform group of organisms are sufficiently rare in adults to warrant the reporting of another case. The majority of the cases described have occurred in infants and children and have usually been associated with infections of the middle ear, the gastrointestinal tract, the urinary tract or the umbilicus.1 Of 3,178 cases of meningitis due to all types of organisms, Neal2 reported only 8 cases due to the coliform group. Stallworthy3 reported 2 cases in adults, one presumably coincidental with intracerebral hemorrhage and the other secondary to extensive suppuration of the liver and biliary tract. In the case to be presented the meningeal infection resulted from an abscess secondary to a penetrating wound of the sacrum (fig. 1). REPORT OF CASE A white soldier aged 24 was wounded in the back by a bullet on June 6, 1944. Emergency first aid treatment