26 BACTERIA IN DAILY LIFE 



the identification of their composition, and he 

 diagnosed the material employed as abrine in 

 the following original manner. He first intro- 

 duced some of this rod material into animals, 

 and found that their symptoms were suggestive 

 of abrine poisoning. To confirm his suspicions, 

 however, he took some more of this rod material, 

 and, before inoculating it into animals, he mixed 

 it with serum derived from animals which had 

 been artificially rendered immune to abrine poison. 

 Instead of the animals into which this mixture of 

 serum and "rod material" had been introduced 

 dying like the previous ones, they remained alive. 

 Had the " rod material " consisted of some poison 

 other than abrine, the abrine serum would not, ac- 

 cording to Dr. Calmette, have negatived its action, 

 and it has thus been indicated how protective 

 serums may be successfully employed for the de- 

 tection of poisons. 



Foremost, however, among the beneficent re- 

 forms which have followed in the wake of bacteri- 

 ology must be placed the antiseptic treatment of 

 wounds, or Listerism, as it is now universally 

 designated in recognition of its renowned champion, 

 the former President of the Royal Society. " Lister 

 comprend," in the words of Dr. Roux, "que les 

 complications des plaies sont dues aux germes 



