260 BACTERIA IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 



duced as seed, but as a result of the introduction 

 of a chemical poison which causes organisms pre- 

 viously present in the body of the animal to make 

 their appearance in the blood, etc. 



That the injection of sepsin favors the develop- 

 ment of bacteria introduced at the same time is 

 very probable, and we cannot help believing that 

 Rosenberger has unwittingly introduced living 

 bacteria with his cooked septic blood and serum, 

 notwithstanding the precautions which he claims 

 to have taken. This view is supported by the ex- 

 periments of Zuelzer and Sonnenschein, who, 

 finding a resemblance between the physiological 

 effects of sepsin and of atropia, injected two to 

 five centigrammes of neutral sulphate of atropia 

 at the same time with a culture-solution contain- 

 ing bacteria. Fatal septicaemia was found to re- 

 sult from these inoculations, while the bacteria 

 injected alone did no harm. 



The subcutaneous injection of other potent poi- 

 sons has been found to be followed by local necro- 

 sis and rapidly developed putrefactive changes ; 

 but there is reason to believe that in . these in- 

 stances, also, the putrefactive germs are intro- 

 duced simultaneously with the chemical poison, or 

 find their way through the inoculation wound from 

 the exterior, rather than to suppose that they are 

 developed within the body of the animal. For 

 the observations and experiments of numerous 

 investigators are opposed to the belief that bacte- 

 ria are habitually present in the blood and tissues 



