386 CHOLERA. 



in addition to neutralising as before with the carbonate of 

 sodium solution. The result was remarkable, as thirty, out 

 of thirty-five animals treated, died with the same changes as 

 in the single animal in the previous series of experiments. 

 He afterwards repeated the experiments on a larger scale, 

 with the same result. When the animals become infected 

 by this method they show signs of general prostration, their 

 posterior extremities being especially weakened ; their abdo- 

 men becomes tumid, respiration slow, heart's action weak, 

 and the surface cold. Death occurs after a few hours. 

 Post mortem the small intestine is distended, its mucous 

 membrane congested, and it contains a colourless fluid 

 with small flocculi and the cholera organisms in practically 

 pure cultures. The intestinal contents from one of the 

 affected animals could produce a similar diseased condition 

 in another animal treated in the same way. These experi- 

 ments, which have been repeatedly confirmed, therefore 

 demonstrated that the cholera organisms could, under certain 

 conditions, set up in animals a condition in some respects 

 resembling cholera. Koch, however, found that when the 

 spirilla of Finkler and Prior, of Deneke, and of Miller 

 (vide infra) were employed by the same method, a certain, 

 though much smaller, proportion of the animals died from 

 an intestinal infection. Though the changes in these cases 

 were not of so characteristic a nature, they were sufficient to 

 prevent the results obtained with the cholera organism from 

 being used as a demonstration of the specific relation of the 

 latter to the disease. 



Within the last few years some additional facts of high 

 interest have been established with regard to choleraic 

 infection of animals. For example, Sabolotny found that 

 in the marmot an intestinal infection readily takes place by 

 simple feeding with the organism, there resulting the usual 

 intestinal changes, sometimes with haemorrhagic peritonitis, 

 the organisms, however, being present also in the blood. It 

 was found by Issaeff and Kolle that young rabbits could 

 be infected by merely neutralising the gastric secretion with 

 sodium carbonate, the use of opium being unnecessary ; but 



