BACTERIACE^E : THE SPOROGENIC ANAEROBES 283 



test dose of standard tetanus toxin furnished by the Hygienic 

 Laboratory of the U. S. Public Health Service. 1 Tetanus anti- 

 toxin deteriorates with moderate rapidity. The reaction be- 

 tween tetanus toxin and antitoxin seems to take place in two 

 stages, first a reversible absorption and following this a specific 

 chemical union. 



Tetanus antitoxin seems to be an absolute preventive of teta- 

 nus if given soon after the wound is inflicted in a dose of 20 anti- 

 toxic units (German) or 1500 immunity units (U. S. Standard). 

 After symptoms of tetanus have appeared, antitoxin is of less 

 use. At this time the poison is present not only in the vicinity 

 of the wound and in the blood but also in the peripheral nerves 

 and in the central nervous system. The toxin in the last two situ- 

 ations is only slightly or not at all influenced by subcutaneous in- 

 jection of antitoxin. That in the peripheral nerves may be reached 

 by intraneural injection, and in subacute or chronic cases recovery 

 may sometimes take place. Acute cases in which symptoms 

 appear in a few days after infliction of the wound offer no hope. 

 Prophylactic use of tetanus antitoxin in all punctured and lacer- 

 ated wounds, especially those caused by gunpowder (Fourth of 

 July) is an essential feature of the effective treatment for tet- 

 anus. Surgical cleansing and antiseptic open treatment of such 

 wounds is to be recommended. 2 



s 



Bacillus Botulinus, Van Ermengem in 1895 discovered the 

 spores of this organism in the intermuscular connective tissue 

 of a ham which had given rise to 30 cases of food poisoning with 

 3 deaths. Other anaerobic as well as aerobic bacteria were also 

 present in the meat. Its natural habitat is unknown but it seems 

 to occur in the feces of swine. The bacillus is 0.9 to i.2/* wide 

 by 4 to 6/z long and occurs single or in pairs. It is slightly 

 motile and has 4 to 8 peritrichous flagella. It is Gram-positive. 

 The spores are oval and usually nearer one end of the cell. They 



1 Rosenau and Anderson: U. S. Hygienic Laboratory, Bulletin No. 43, 1908, p. 59. 

 The official test dose of toxin is 100 times the amount of a dry tetanus toxin required 

 to kill a 350 gram guinea-pig in four days. 



2 Editorial, Jour. A. M. A., 1909, Vol. LIU, p. 955. 



