316 TYPHOID FEVER. 



Sanarelli's work, could not confirm the observations of the 

 latter with regard to a special affection of the Peyer's patches, 

 but this result may be due to the fact that the cultures used 

 by him did not possess so exalted a virulence as those of 

 Sanarelli. The observations of Sanarelli, at any rate, leave 

 no doubt that, provided the cultures be sufficiently viru- 

 lent, the typhoid bacillus can multiply in the body of an 

 animal and rapidly produce a fatal result. Before we 

 discuss the significance of its pathogenic effects in animals 

 we must look at what has been done in investigating 

 the toxic bodies, which the pathological anatomy of the 

 disease leads us to suspect are elaborated by the bacillus 

 typhosus. 



The Toxic Products of the Typhoid Bacillus. Brieger, 

 in his earlier work on the ptomaines, stated that bouillon 

 cultures of the typhoid bacillus eight weeks old contained 

 a base to which he assigned the formula C 7 H 17 NO 9 , 

 and gave the name typhotoxin. As we have seen in the 

 chapter on the general pathological effects of bacteria, 

 Brieger's earlier work is open to objection, and his observa- 

 tions on this particular body have not been confirmed, nor, 

 indeed, did the physiological effects of typhotoxin throw 

 any light on the pathology of typhoid fever. Brieger 

 did not follow up his own results, for later (1890), in 

 the paper published by Fraenkel and himself he brings 

 forward quite other toxic bodies formed by the typhoid 

 bacillus. The new body belongs to the group of toxal- 

 bumins. The authors obtained it by making bouillon 

 cultures germ-free, by filtering through a Chamber-land's 

 filter after concentration to one-third of the original volume 

 by evaporation at 30 C. A precipitate was then obtained 

 by adding ten volumes of alcohol acidified with acetic acid. 

 The precipitate was redissolved in water and reprecipitated 

 with alcohol, again dissolved in water and again precipi- 

 tated by saturating with sulphate of ammonium in powder. 

 The precipitate was a third time dissolved in water and 

 dialysed. What remained in the dialyser was the toxic 

 body. It gave the reactions of the group of toxalbumins, 



