SPECIAL PART. 



I. THE TRUE TOXINES. 



DIPHTHERIA TOXINE. 



DIPHTHERIA toxine is the most important of all the bacterial 

 poisons, both as regards its theoretical importance and especially 

 on account of its relations towards artificial immunity and 

 serurn- therapy. It represents for us the exact fundamental 

 type of the true toxine; it has been used in most of the 

 investigations that have thrown light on the mode of action 

 of toxines, their relations towards disease, and the formation 

 of antitoxines. Diphtheria toxine is strictly a specific poison, 

 producing in animals almost exactly the same symptoms of 

 disease as are produced by infection with living diphtheria 

 bacilli. The knowledge of the fact that the diphtheria bacilli 

 themselves are not found distributed throughout the body, but 

 only in the false membranes or point of inoculation long ago 

 suggested the notion that the general symptoms were caused by 

 soluble poison. Even in his first work, LOFFLER 1 indicated the 

 existence of such a specific poison, and subsequently he isolated 

 it by precipitation with alcohol. Then R-oux and YERSIN 2 

 succeeded in establishing the fact beyond dispute. 



Roux and YERSIN found that a cultivation of the diphtheria 

 bacillus in calf's bouillon of seven days' growth when filtered 

 through porcelain and proved to be completely clear and sterile, 

 produced typical symptoms of poisoning, especially when injected 

 into the peritoneum. The toxicity increased with the age of 



, "Unters. tib. d. Bedeutg. der Mikroorg. f. d. Entstehg. d. 

 Diphth.," Mitt. Kais. Ges.-Amt.,iL, 1884. Id., "Der gegenw. Stand der 

 Frage nach der Entsteh. d. Diphth.," Deutsch. med. Wocli., 1890, 81. 



2 Roux and Yersin, "Contribution & l'4tude de la diphtheria," Ann. 

 Past., iii., 273, 1889; iv., 385, 1890. 



