ANAEROBIC TREATMENT OF WOUNDS 227 



wool and preserved so for at least six months, though 

 after a period like this their germination is slow. 



Into the chemistry of this proteolysis it is no part of 

 my scheme to enter here, though a certain amount is 

 known about it. The most interesting point is that 

 the enzyme or mixture of enzymes at work is diffused 

 from the living organisms, and can therefore be sepa- 

 rated from them without much difficulty and its pro- 

 perties investigated. It is surprisingly weak, and 

 liquefies gelatine and white of egg only very slowly, 

 so that its value in the wound must depend upon its 

 constant formation in situ. 



The Reading bacillus is classed with the group of 

 proteolytic anaerobes, though the taxonomy of these 

 micro-organisms is far from satisfactory. The group 

 is distinguished for the potency of its members, includ- 

 ing, as it does, two such plagues as B. tetanus and 

 B. cedematis maligni. Such company casts a gloom 

 of suspicion on any bacillus, however well behaved, 

 especially as it is morphologically identical with the 

 last named, and indeed may be nothing more than an 

 atoxic form of it. Happily, however, there are other 

 more respectable creatures in the group as well, and 

 with one of these, the so-called B. sporogenes of 

 Metchnikoff, Reading bacillus has probably the 

 closest relationship of all. This relative has similar, 

 though less potent toxolytic abilities. Curiously 

 enough, this power is not common to all the proteo- 

 lytic anaerobes; some, even among the most violently 

 proteolytic, are completely lacking in it. It is seem- 

 ingly a closely-restricted property, peculiar to a very 

 small number of organisms, and not necessarily associ- 

 ated with powers of general proteolysis. 



And where does the bacillus come from? Proxi- 

 mately from the air, there is little doubt; but ulti- 

 mately, we don't know. It has been identified from 



