116 TOXINES AND ANTITOX1NES. 



spinal cord that offers suitable haptophore groups for tetanus 

 toxine. Roux and BORREL (loc. cit.'), for example, were able to 

 prove that, on subdural introduction of the poison, the poison 

 combined exclusively with the brain cells and produced cerebral 

 tetanus. And, lastly, the experiments of DONITZ * on rabbits 

 and of MiYAMOTO 2 show that, under certain conditions, the 

 poison can be fixed so rapidly by haptophore cells, other than 

 those of the central nervous system, that the animal dies 

 without spasms from a "tetanus sine tetano" In the case of 

 rabbits this fixation of the poison in the less vitally important 

 organs, which withdraw it from the central nervous system, 

 undoubtedly partially accounts for their smaller susceptibility. 

 At any rate, Roux and BORREL were able to poison rabbits 

 much more readily by intercerebral injection, in which the 

 poison comes into direct contact with the central nervous 

 system, than by subcutaneous injection, which was not the 

 case with guinea-pigs. Even the hen, so little susceptible in 

 other respects, can be poisoned by intercerebral injection. 

 Under certain conditions, which are still imperfectly known, 

 many poisons (MIYAMOTO employed a very old preparation) 

 appear to lose their predominating affinity for the central 

 nervous system. It is surely not unjustifiable to assume, pro- 

 visionally, that in this case substances have been formed from 

 the original toxine which are undoubtedly still poisonous, but 

 have lost their characteristic action upon the central nervous 

 system, there being possibly a formation of toxoids of a special 

 kind. On the other hand, in the case of refractory animals 

 e.g., alligators and also in that of hens, which are not completely 

 refractory, METSCHNIKOFF (vide infra) observed a slight forma- 

 tion of antitoxine without preliminary symptoms of illness, 

 which surely points to a combination with distributed indi- 

 vidual receptors. 



The conclusion drawn from the study of the symptoms of 

 the disease viz., that the tetanus poison combines with the 

 substance of the central nervous system, could also be confirmed 

 experimentally. 



It was also shown, simultaneously, by WASSERMANN and 

 TAKAKI 3 and by RANSOM,* that an emulsion of the fresh brain 



1 Donitz, "Ueber das Tetarmsantitoxin," Deutsch. med. Woch., 1897, 428. 



2 Miyamoto, "Beitrage zur Tetanusvergif tung, " Deutsch. med. Woch., 

 1900, 479. 



3 Wassermann and Takaki, "Ueber tetanusantitoxische Eigenschaften 

 des Centralnervensystems," Berl. klin. Woch., 1898, 5; Wassermann, 

 " Weiterere Mitt, iiber Seitenkettenimmunitat," ibid., 209. 



4 Ransom, quoted by Behring, Deutsch. med. Woch., 1898, 68. 



