266 DISEASE CONTROL 



for combating streptococci and staphylococci may also be classified 

 among the phenomena of antagonism. On the basis of the rapid destruc- 

 tion of pathogenic bacteria added to natural water, the storage of drink- 

 ing water in large reservoirs was recommended as an important safe- 

 guard against the water's becoming a carrier of bacterial diseases (293- 



295). 



Clinical methods have been proposed for evaluating the results ob- 

 tained by treating tooth gangrene by means of antagonists (333). Don- 

 aldson (190) found that CI. sporo genes or a closely related form had a 

 marked effect in suppressing the growth of pathogenic organisms in 

 septic wounds. He believed the antagonistic anaerobe is present in the 

 majority of gunshot wounds, but that its activities are held in abeyance 

 by the method of wound-dressing. This antagonist acts by virtue of its 

 proteolytic enzymes which hydrolyze the dead protein, from which the 

 pathogenic organisms operate, as well as the toxic degradation products 

 of other organisms. 



Dack (165) reported that CL sforo genes formed in the soil was re- 

 sponsible for destroying the toxin of CI. botulinum. 



ANTIBIOTIC SUBSTANCES AS CHEMO- 

 THERAPEUTIC AGENTS 



Numerous attempts were made, before the advent of tyrothricin 

 which was soon followed by penicillin, to utilize the products of difFer- 

 ent organisms for the control of bacterial infections in man and in 

 animals. Attention has already been called to the use of various pyocya- 

 nase preparations through nearly half a century, beginning with the 

 work of Emmerich and Low (235, 236), through the work of Nissle 

 on mutaflor (680a), and finally the recent studies of Bergstrom and 

 associates ( 50a) . There was no question of the efficacy of many of these 

 preparations. Attention has also been called to the work of Vaudremer 

 (934) and others who attempted to utilize fungus preparations for the 

 control of bacterial infections. It is only within the last seven years, 

 that is, with the introduction of tyrothricin, that a new chapter has been 

 opened in chemotherapy. 



Of the numerous antibiotics so far isolated, only a very few have 



