48 BACTERIAL POISONS 



solution, 1 c.c. of the resulting emulsion is capable of neutralizing as 

 much as 10 fatal doses of the toxin (i. e., fatal for white mice) and of 

 causing a marked decrease in the toxic action of as much as 60 fatal 

 doses of the toxin. The blood, liver, kidneys, spleen, and muscles, on 

 the other hand, do not possess this neutralizing power. The affinity 

 which exists between the hemolytic toxin (staphylolysin) produced 

 by staphylocpccus aureus and red corpuscles is similarly shown when 

 the toxin is allowed to act upon the red cells at C., at which temper- 

 ature hemolysis does not take place ; if, then, the corpuscles are thrown 

 down by centrifugation the supernatant fluid will be found to have 

 lost its hemolytic action, while the red cells have taken up the active 

 principle and hold this so tenaciously that it cannot be abstracted 

 again, even on repeated washing with normal salt solution. Other 

 cells are practically inert in this respect. Another toxin produced 

 by the staphylococcus the leukocydin has a similar selective 

 affinity for leukocytes. 



The activity of the toxins is most remarkable and far exceeds that 

 of the most toxic ptomains. One preparation of tetanus toxin could 

 thus be shown to be fatal for mice in a dose of 0.00000025 gram, and 

 another in the still smaller dose of 0.00000005 gram. A culture of 

 the bacillus botulinus similarly produced a fatal effect in doses vary- 

 ing between 0.01 and 0.00005 c.c. These figures assume increased 

 significance if we remember that the toxins have never been prepared 

 in a state of chemical purity and that our purest products are still 

 contaminated with a preponderating amount of inert material. 



While the diphtheria bacillus, the tetanus bacillus, and the bacillus 

 botulinus are usually mentioned as being the only bacteria which 

 secrete a soluble toxin, it is now known that a number of other 

 organisms also furnish soluble toxins, and there is hence good ground 

 for the belief that some of the symptoms which are observed in the 

 corresponding infections may be referable to such toxins and are in a 

 measure characteristic. The organisms in question are the dysentery 

 bacillus, the bacillus of symptomatic anthrax, the cholera vibrio and 

 closely related organisms (vibrio El Tor, Vibrio Nasik), the typhoid 

 bacillus, the pyocyaneus, and the staphylococcus aureus. Of these, 

 the dysentery toxin (in the animal experiment) produces paralyses 

 (especially of the posterior extremities), hemorrhagic diarrhea and 

 subnormal temperature; the typhoid toxin diarrhea, hyperemia, and 

 hemorrhages of the intestinal mucosa; the staphylococcus toxin 



