136 THE BACTERIA IN ASIATIC CHOLERA. [CH. 



the experiment as designed by Koch was repeated by me on 

 a large number of guinea-pigs, thirty in all, but instead of 

 producing narcosis by injection of tincture of opium into 

 the peritoneum I produced it by intraperitoneal injection of 

 watery extract of opium, or subcutaneous injection of tincture 

 of opium and watery extract of opium but all in vain. The 

 comma-bacilli used were of recent broth-culture, or of gelatine 

 culture, and were beyond question or doubt the choleraic- 

 comma-bacilli. (3) It is not proved that injection of 

 tincture of opium into the peritoneal cavity produces 

 relaxation of the intestine and arrest of the peristaltic 

 movement ; there is no proof given for this by Koch 

 as regards the guinea-pig ; on the contrary, there are 

 experiments on record made on the dog, when the re- 

 sult of such injection was quickening of the peristaltic 

 movement. 



From all these considerations it appears to me unwarranted 

 to conclude as Koch does that the multiplication of the 

 comma-bacilli in the small intestine, and their fatal action by 

 the chemical products they elaborate, takes place on account 

 of a relaxation and arrest of the peristaltic movement by 

 the opium. Another explanation appears to me much more 

 probably correct. It is this provided the intestine is first 

 made diseased, either in consequence of slight peritonitis, as 

 was probably the case in the guinea-pig that had aborted, or 

 in the experiments when tincture of opium is injected into 

 the peritoneal cavity, or from other reasons, the comma- 

 bacilli that are present in the intestinal cavity undergo rapid 

 multiplication, and by their chemical products not only 

 increase the disorder of the mucous membrane but eventu- 

 ally poison the animal. And from this I conclude further 

 that a multiplication of the comma-bacilli can and does take 

 place only when the intestine is previously brought into a 



