280 BACTERIA IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 



An important question, which has received the 

 attention of several investigators, relates to the 

 possibility of the passage of the bacillus from 

 the circulation of a pregnant female, through the 

 placenta, to the foetus in utero. It is well known 

 that the placenta does not permit of the pas- 

 sage of blood-corpuscles, and experimenters very 

 justly reasoned that if the blood of the foetus of 

 ' an animal which has succumbed to an attack of 

 anthrax is free from bacilli while the mother's 

 blood contains them, inoculation experiments 

 with this blood should furnish strong evidence for 

 or against the germ theory. 



The observations of Brauell, of Davaine, and 

 of Bollinger, were all in accord as to the absence 

 of the bacilli from the blood, and its non-virulent 

 character. But, more recently, Strauss and Cham- 

 berland have shown that there are some excep- 

 tions to this rule, and that occasionally the foetal 

 blood contains a few bacilli. This was proved by 

 culture experiments, and when the bacilli were 

 present the blood was found to be virulent, when 

 injected in sufficient quantity. 



SYMPTOMATIC ANTHRAX ; Clwrlon tympiomaUque. 

 This disease, according to Arloing, Cornevin, 

 and Thomas, is characterized by the presence 

 of a microbe which has distinct morphological 

 characters, and which differs essentially from the 

 anthrax bacillus. It is shorter and broader than 

 B. anil i - rounded at the extremities, is ex- 



