174 PROTEIN POISONS 



cardium, and forming a cast of the thoracic cavity. They 

 are pale and often slightly bluish in color, and frequently 

 exhibit punctate hemorrhages on the surface. The heart 

 still beats. Not infrequently there is definite heart block, 

 with an auriculoventricular arrhythmia of three to one. 

 Often there are petechial hemorrhages in the epicardium, 

 Greater extravasations are also seen, and in two cases 

 actual rupture of the ventricle had apparently taken place. 

 On section the lungs do not collapse, and on pressure only a 

 little frothy serum exudes. They are not edematous. They 

 float on water. The excised heart continues to beat for 

 several minutes. The gross appearance of the brain is 

 normal. A study of the pathological changes in the his- 

 tology of the lungs, heart, and brain has been undertaken, 

 but has not yet progressed sufficiently to warrant any 

 conclusions. When the dose is larger the acute symptoms 

 appear instantaneously, and their sequence is more rapid. 

 With a sublethal dose the onset is slower and the manifes- 

 tations are less violent. The animal shows evidence of 

 weakness, drops its hind legs, and frequently lies on its 

 side in collapse. The apneic stage is never reached, its 

 appearance therefore signifies inevitable death. Recovery 

 from a non-fatal dose is comparatively prompt even when 

 near the lethal borderline. Recovered animals exhibit no 

 visible sequela? of the intoxication." 



These investigators have compared the acute intoxi- 

 cation produced in animals by the tuberculopoison with 

 anaphylactic shock, and conclude that there are no appre- 

 ciable points of difference in the symptomatology and gross 

 pathology of the two conditions. "They would therefore 

 appear to be identical." The tuberculopoison, like that 

 obtained from other proteins, is thermostabile. It also 

 agrees with the like poison obtained by the cleavage of 

 other proteins in the following particulars: (1) It lowers 

 the temperature when given in doses sufficient to produce 

 recognizable effects. (2) It does not sensitize animals 

 to the unbroken tuberculoprotein, while the haptophor 

 group is not poisonous and does sensitize to the whole 



