TRANSLATION OF THE FOREWORD 



The remarkable plienonienon which Dr. ShAvart/nian has studied 

 w itli such ingenuity and perserverance has aroused the most vivid 

 interest among bacteriologists and immunologists. From the very 

 beginning his discovery has been justly recognized as an important 

 scientific development. The discovery of the phenomenon was 

 totally unexpected, it nuist be acknowledged, for if there is any 

 field which has been minutely investigated from every point of 

 view and conscientiously searched it is that of the reactions of the 

 organism to bacterial products. One could not have suspected that 

 in this field secrets still remained unraveled and surprises were 

 in store for us. 



It may seem strange that the phenomenon to which the name of 

 Dr. Shwartzman remains attached was not discovered earlier, since 

 denoting itself l^y accidents, hemorrhagic in nattire, it gives rise 

 to striking and especially conspicuous manifestations, and since the 

 conditions necessary for its reproduction are in alf probability fre- 

 cpiently encountered experimentally and in the course of spon- 

 taneous infections. In order to reproduce the phenomenon it is 

 sufficient indeed that the products elaborated l)y certain micro- 

 organisms penetrate into the circulation after having acted at a 

 given site, notably skin or mucosa. Among the microorganisms 

 capable of developing these effects there are those like B. coli, 

 which are Avidespread and to Avhich the human organism is well 

 adapted. 



B. coli ^vas employed some time ago in the experiments of Dr. 

 Sanarelli ^vhose \ery curious results could be interpreted more 

 easily in the light of the more recent findings of Dr. Sh-wartzman. 

 Dr. Sanarelli had shown that an intravenous injection of B. coli 

 culture filtrate, althotigh easily tolerated by the control animals, 

 elicits a fatal hemorrhagic congestion in the intestinal tract of 

 rabbits ^vhich had previously received a stiblethal dose of cholera 

 vibrio. The phenomenon of Sanarelli is closely related to the 

 ShAvartzman phenomenon, the fact pointed out in 1931 by investi- 

 gations (Paul Bordet) consisting in inoculating guinea pigs, Avhose 

 lymph nodes contained li\'ing microorganisms (B.C.G. attenuated 



