SEPTIC JEMI A IN RABBITS. 371 



duces the fatal disease ? And as my results accord so 

 perfectly with those obtained by Steinberg, and my ex- 

 periments in this direction are but repetitions of his, I 

 shall be pardoned, I trust, for answering the question in 

 his own words. 



" 4 The following facts demonstrate that the phenomena 

 detailed result from the presence of a living organism 

 found in the saliva, namely, a micrococcus which multi- 

 plies in the subcutaneous connective tissue, and also in the 

 blood shortly before or after death.'' " 



This extended account of the disease under con- 

 sideration, and of the evidence in support of the 

 writer's first announcement as regards its etiology, 

 has been given because rabbits are extensively 

 employed in experiments relating to the etiology 

 of infectious diseases, and it is important that 

 those who enter upon such investigations should 

 be familiar with all forms of disease to which they 

 are subject. And also, because, notwithstanding 

 the experimental evidence adduced in favor of the 

 view that the virulence of normal human saliva is 

 due to the micrococcus described, it has been evi- 

 dent that there has been considerable incredulity 

 as to the correctness of this conclusion, on the part 

 of many worthy members of the profession. 



We have seen, in the article on septicaemia in 

 mice, that rabbits are not susceptible to this form 

 of septicaemia, which Koch has shown to be due 

 to a bacillus. On the other hand, Koch found 

 that the injection of blood from a septicaamic rab- 

 bit into a mouse, although it killed the little 



