238 THE MICROSCOPICAL NEWS. 
the boy’s mother and sister must have the same disease. Dr. 
Curtis did not express an opinion. Of course, I will not, and do 
not say that micrococci do constitute the cause of tetanus, and all 
I do say is that the presence of the same micrococci in the blood 
of two apparently healthy persons, the boy’s mother and sister, is 
no proof whatever that those micrococci, seen in the blood of the 
boy, did not constitute the cause of the disease. The boy 
recovered, otherwise Dr. Curtis, in carrying on his research with 
his usual care and precaution, might have made an important 
discovery. 
If the following facts are taken into consideration, it will not 
appear to be impossible that the micrococci, after all, bear a causal 
connection to the disease (tetanus). In the first place, a micro- 
coccus is abundantly small to pass everywhere with the greatest 
ease where a blood-corpuscle can pass. Secondly, in many 
infectious diseases, looked upon as being caused by micrococci, 
the latter may be found in the blood circulating in unaffected parts 
of the body, but always as micrococci, seldom as diplococci, and 
never as micrococcus chains and zoogloea-masses, while in the affected 
tissues the latter forms are abundant. This shows that the forma- 
tion of zoogloea-masses and chains has something to do with the 
morbid process. According to my observations, the latter, in 
swine-plague at least, is the result of embolism, caused by zoogloea- 
masses becoming lodged in, and thus obstructing, the finer 
capillaries. As long as a person or an animal is healthy, or as long 
the blood is regularly circulating in all parts of the body, no 
zoogloea-masses, it seems, are formed, and no obstructions occur 
caused by micrococci, but as soon as the current of blood in some 
part or parts of the body becomes irregular or retarded, perhaps 
through a sudden contraction of some capillaries caused by what- 
ever agency it may be—a short exposure to a draft of cold air 
appears to be sufficient—the conditions, it seems, are given for the 
formation of zoogloea-masses, and all further consequences follow. 
Returning to the tetanus case, it is a well-known fact that toy-pistol 
wounds, and in skort all those wounds frequently followed by 
tetanus, are, as a rule, lacerated, attended with more or less con- 
gestion, and, being exceedingly painful, show irritation of the 
nervous system. ‘The congestion or irregularities in the capillary 
circulation, it seems, is most pronounced in the capillary system of 
the irritated nerves. The rest is easily explained, particularly if it 
is taken into consideration that tetanus in some localities is a 
frequent, and in others a very rare or entirely unknown disease. If 
statistics were taken, it would soon be possible to map out the 
tetanus districts, and it would probably be shown that all those 
localities in which tetanus is of frequent occurrence, have one thing 
in common, namely, a high stand of the surface water. 
