364 



INFECTIVE DISEASES. 



ligation of the bile-duct, has given positive results. More recently 

 these results have been confirmed by the following method : Five 

 cc. of a 5 per cent, solution of potash were injected into the 

 stomach of a guinea-pig, and twenty minutes after, 10 cc. of a 

 cultivation of comma -bacilli, diffused in broth, were similarly intro- 

 duced. Simultaneously with the latter, an injection of tincture of 

 opium was made into the abdominal cavity, in the proportion of 

 1 cc. for every 200 grammes weight of the animal. Those who 

 have had success with inoculation experiments maintain that choleraic 

 symptoms were produced without any trace of peritonitis or putrid 

 infection, and that the comma-bacilli of Koch were again found 

 in the intestinal contents, and fresh cultivations established. 





FIG. 153. SECTION OF THE Mucous MEMBRANE OF A CHOLERA INTESTINE, x 600. 

 A tubular gland (a) is divided transversely ; in its interior (b) and between 

 the epithelium and the basement membrane (c) are numerous comma-bacilli 

 (Koch). 



On the other hand, these results have been disputed, the fatal 

 effects of the inoculation attributed to septicsemic poisoning, and 

 the proliferation of the bacilli considered to be dependent upon an 

 abnormal condition of the intestines, induced by the injection of 

 tincture of opium. It has, however, been shown that these organisms, 

 like several others which have been isolated from intestinal dis- 

 charges, produce definite poisonous substances. The comma-bacilli 

 were found in the superficial necrosed layer of the intestine, in 

 the mucous flakes and liquid contents of the intestinal canal of 

 cases of Asiatic cholera. It is stated that they were also detected 



