394 BACTERIOLOGY. 



In mild cases, or when a dose too small to be fatal 

 has been received, the tetanic spasm may remain con- 

 fined to the muscles adjacent to the point of inocula- 

 tion or infection. According to Gumprecht, the action 

 of tetanus depends upon an increased reflex excita- 

 bility, as in strychnine-poisoning; but it is different 

 from strychnine in its mode of distribution, and prob- 

 ably takes place chiefly through the nervous system, as 

 in rabies. This view is supported by Brunner, Brusch- 

 ettini, and others. Beck has described a peculiar degen- 

 eration in the motor cells of the cord in animals killed 

 by tetanus. This degeneration does not seem to attack 

 the entire cells, but only a peripheral part, and seems 

 to be confined chiefly to the body of the cell, usually 

 leaving the nucleus intact. Only very late do the 

 nucleus and the nucleolus take part in the changes. 

 The changes consist in a swelling of the cell and a 

 homogeneous or finely granular degeneration with a 

 swelling, and, finally, coarse lumping together of the 

 chromatin This is especially evident at the tiny emi- 

 nence from which the axis-cylinder arises and in the 

 axis-cylinder itself. Beck considers this as proving 

 that the poison travels along the axis-cylinder, and 

 that, as the nucleus is the last portion affected, the 

 change is not a necrosis but only a modification of 

 cell function. 



But there is also, in addition, undoubtedly a diffusion 

 of the poison by means of the blood and lymph. The 

 blood usually contains the poison, as has been proved 

 experimentally on animals. Neisser showed that the 

 blood of a tetanic patient was capable of inducing 

 tetanus in animals when injected subcutaneously. 

 Kitasato also found the serous exudates of the pleural 



