TETANUS TOXINE. 113 



Eventually, infected animals show a marked reduction in tem- 

 perature and severe inanition before death (HARNACK and 

 HOCHHEIM 1 ). 



Effect upon the Central Nervous System. With the exception 

 of these few pronounced general symptoms, tetanus and also 

 the completely identical poisoning with tetanospasmine are 

 characterised in the case of most animals by the predominance 

 of symptoms due to an affection of the central nervous system. 

 It would appear then that the receptors which combine with the 

 poison and thus initiate the disease only occur in the nervous 

 system. There are only a few facts that have been urged against 

 the view that this is the only point of attack for the poison. 

 Thus VAILLARD, using very small doses of toxine, claims to have 

 observed local poisoning of the neighbouring muscular tissue. 

 The rabbit also occupies an exceptional position, since under 

 certain conditions the poison can be fixed in other ways to an 

 overwhelming extent, so that the animal dies of " tetanus sine 

 tetano" (DoNiTz). This is a particularly striking instance of 

 the observation that has frequently been made, that the poison 

 can combine with receptors situated in organs of little vital 

 importance, so that the fixation of the poison does not lead to 

 any predominating symptoms of illness. We shall return to 

 this phenomenon presently. 



The direct symptoms, the combination of the poison with the 

 substance of the central nervous system, were first observed by 

 SHAKESPEARE 2 and YERHOOGEN and BAERT, S who poisoned 

 animals by the subdural injection of material from the central 

 nervous system of tetanised animals. 



BESEEDKA 4 in repeating this experiment left the normal brain 

 substance of a guinea-pig in contact with a large quantity of 

 toxine for a considerable time (up to six days) in an ice chest, 

 and then removed the excess of free toxine by careful washing. 

 He was able to produce tetanus in mice by means of this 

 substance. 



PASQUINI 5 also found the central nervous system to be 

 poisonous. 



1 Harnack and Hochheim, " Ueb. Wirkg. d. Briegerschen Tet.-G.," 

 Z.f. Jclin. Med., xxv., 46, 1894. 



2 Shakespeare, "Preliminary report on exper. researches concerning the 

 infectious nature of traumatic tetanus," Centralbl. f. Bakt., ii., 541, 1887. 



3 Verhoogen and Baert, "Premieres recherches sur la nature du te"tanos," 

 Baumg. Jahresber., 1890, 198. 



4 Besredka, "De la fixation de la tox. te*t. par le cerveau," Ann. Past., 

 xvii., 138, 1903. 



5 Pasquini, " Sulla presenza del veneno tetanico negli organi," Rif, Med., 

 1902, 22, 23 ; Abst. in Centralbl. f. Bakt,, xxxi,, 117. 



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