ON THE PHAGOCYTES OF THE ALIMENTARY CANAL. 501 
mouths of healthy subjects even. Staphylococci have been 
isolated from the normal saliva by many observers, the 
micro-organism producing pneumonia also, whilst Loffler! has 
cultivated the Bacillus diphtheriz from a healthy child’s 
mouth. 
These microbes must, of course, pass over the tonsils, but if 
they try and penetrate into the tissues of that organ they are 
at once seized upon and destroyed by the micro- and macro- 
phages. But if an animal be at all ailing, it is probable 
that its cells are unable to exert their phagocytic action 
and that the micro-organisms multiply in the interior of the 
tonsils. 
This theory is based on clinical and experimental data. 
That peculiar infectious process termed hospital sore-throat 
does not attack all people living in hospitals, but only those 
whose health is deteriorated by overwork, a previous attack of 
the same disease, or some other reason. Local remedies do 
but little good, but if the general health be looked after the 
disease is cut short at once, and the phagocytes of the 
pharynx and tonsils make short work of the pathogenic mi- 
crobes. 
Dr. Charrin and myself* have lately attempted to demon- 
strate the influence of the nervous system on the production of 
an infectious disease. We had noticed that if 1 c.c. of a culture 
of the Bacillus pyocyaneus was injected into the trachea of a 
healthy rabbit, the animal thus inoculated suffered no evil effects 
either immediate or remote. After ascertaining that the 
section of one pneumogastric nerve produced no evil effects we 
introduced, two days after the nerve had been cut, } c.c. of a 
culture of Bacillus pyocyaneus intothe trachea. We found 
that in two animals out of seven death supervened, and that 
the five others were very ill on the day following the injection, 
did not take any food, and remained huddled together in one 
corner with shaggy coats and difficult respiration, the symptoms 
1 Loffler, loc. cit. 
? Charrin and Armand Ruffer, ‘Compt. Rend. Soc. d. Biol.,’ March, 1889. 
VOL, XXX, PART 4,-—NEW SER, KK 
