THE PHENOMENA OF INFECTION 443 



also took blood from the heart with a sterilized pipette, 

 and added anthrax bacilli to it. This was kept at 38, and 

 plates made from time to time showed rapid diminution 

 in the number of bacteria, until after a time, when the blood 

 having lost its germicidal properties, the number rapidly 

 increased. In 1888 Nuttall, 1 working under the direction 

 of Fliigge, used defibrinated blood taken from various 

 species of animals, rabbits, mice, pigeons, and sheep, found 

 that the blood destroyed the bacillus anthracis, b. subtilis, 

 b. megatherium, and staphylococcus aureus. He also con- 

 firmed the finding of Fodor that after a while the blood 

 loses its germicidal properties and becomes a suitable 

 culture medium. Continuing this work, Nissen 2 reached 

 the following conclusions: (1) The addition of small 

 quantities of salt solution or bouillon to the blood does not 

 destroy its germicidal properties. (2) The bacilli of cholera 

 and typhoid fever are easily destroyed by fresh blood. (3) 

 For a given volume of blood there is a maximum number 

 of bacilli that can be destroyed. (4) Blood whose coagu- 

 lability has been destroyed by peptone injection is still 

 germicidal. (5) Blood in which coagulation is prevented 

 by the addition of 25 per cent, of magnesium sulphate 

 has its germicidal properties decreased. (6) Filtered blood 

 plasma from the horse is germicidal. Behring 3 attributed 

 the germicidal action of the blood of the white rat on the 

 anthrax bacillus to its great alkalinity. In 1890, Buchner 

 and his students 4 published their first contribution on the 

 germicidal properties of blood serum. At first Buchner 

 believed that the germicidal constituent of serum is the 

 serum albumin and the conclusions were stated as follows: 

 (1) The germicidal action of blood is not due to the phago- 

 cytes, because it remains after destruction of the leuko- 

 cytes by alternating freezing and thawing. (2) The germi- 

 cidal properties of the cell-free serum must be due to its 



1 Zeitsch. f. Hygiene, iv, 353. 



2 Ibid., 1889, vi, 487. 3 Ibid., 1889, vi, 1.7. 

 4 Archiv f. Hygiene, 1890, x, 84, 101, 121, 149. 



