1896 THE MICROSCOPE. 139 



The Mode of Action of Bacteria. — A number of 

 theories liavebeen advanced to explain the way in which 

 the bacteria act on the liiiinan system. One of the first 

 theories advanced was that the bacteria deoxidized the 

 blood, inasmncli as some diseases resemble asphyxiation. 

 'Another supposed that death was caused by the plugging 

 up of the fine capillaries of the vital organs by the bac- 

 teria accumulated in them. Another accounts fur the 

 effects by assuming that the bacteria destroy the red 

 blood corpuscles. All of the theories take for granted 

 that the organisms in all cases are found in the blood, 

 but this is not true. In the case of tetanus (lockjaw) and 

 diphtheria the bacteria are localized. To meet these 

 cases, the hypothesis was advanced which is now gener- 

 erally accej)ted for all cases — namely that the wide con- 

 stitutional effects are due to X'f>ist)iis manufactured by 

 the bacteria and called toxines — Meyer Brothers' Druggist. 



Diagnosing Typhoid Bacilli. — Lazarus has a made a 

 clinical test of Eisner's method of diag-nosing- typhoid 

 bacilli. He adds one per cent, of potassium iodide to 

 Holz's acidulated potato-g-elatin. Upon this medium the 

 bacterium <:<?// develops rapidly, forming- at the end of forty- 

 eight hours coarsely granular brown colonies. The typhoid 

 bacillus, on the other hand, grows more slowly; the colo- 

 nies at the end of forty-eight hours appearing like small, 

 glistening drops of water with very minute granulations. 



The stools of five patients with typhoid gave positive 

 results during- the first, second and third weeks of the 

 disease. After the subsidence of fever, bacilli were occa- 

 sionally found, in one case as late as forty-one days after 

 defervescence. Repeated examinations are necessary, as 

 neg-ative results were shown at times to be false by posi- 

 tive finding's at a second examination. In one case of 

 typhoid, where remittent fever persisted, the bacilli were 

 found in the stools even up to the ninth week. Negative 

 results were always obtained in patients suffering from 

 non-typhoidal disease of the intestines. — Medicine. 



