ANTHRAX POISON. 177 



for this purpose the unusually careful bibliography compiled by 

 CONRADI * has naturally been of the greatest service to me. 



The first attempts to isolate poisons from anthrax bacilli by 

 filtration were made by PASTEUR, 2 but with negative results. 

 The filtrates were absolutely inert, while those obtained by W. 

 KOCH 3 produced only elevation of temperature and dyspnoea. 



The first published account about a substance obtained from anthrax 

 cultures, and stated to have an immunising action, was that of WOOL- 

 BRIDGE. 4 He cultivated anthrax bacilli for two to three days at 37 C. 

 upon a bouillon of thymus or scrotum extract. The liquid thus obtained 

 had an immunising non-toxic effect after filtration. He also made very 

 similar experiments 5 with a solution of his tissue fibrinogen prepared from 

 scrota, &c., and sterilised by means of heat, care being taken that it had 

 only a slightly alkaline reaction ; for vigorous growths of the micro- 

 organisms in strongly alkaline media yielded no poison or immunising 

 substance to the solution. But the filtrates of cultures grown on weakly 

 alkaline solutions of tissue fibrinogen undoubtedly contained an immunising 

 non-toxic substance, which only afforded protection on intravenous injec- 

 tion. Yet he asserts that he obtained almost analogous results by simple 

 injection of his solution into animals without previous cultivation of anthrax 

 bacilli, and claims that the tissue fibrinogen by itself affords protection 

 against anthrax. This completely destroys the value of his work as regards 

 the discovery of a possible toxine. 



Nor does any greater importance attach to the theoretical proof of 

 CHAUVEAU 6 that anthrax poison must exist in the soluble form, since the 

 placenta, being impermeable to bacteria, allows none of the bacilli to pass, 

 and yet the embryo of a sheep infected with anthrax is immune ; rather 

 its importance is less, since in rare instances anthrax bacilli can pass 

 through the placenta. 



HANKIN attempted in a series of investigations 7 to prove 

 that his anthrax albumoses were the chief toxic principle. He 

 cultivated the bacilli on a bouillon containing 0-1 per cent, of 

 meat extract, and a large proportion of fibrin (10 to 50 per cent.). 



1 Conradi, "Z. Frage d. Toxinbild. bei d. Milzbrandbakt.,"^. /. Hyg., 

 xxxvii., 287, 1899. 



2 Pasteur and Joubert, ' ' Etude sur la maladie charbonneuse, " Comptes 

 Rend., Ixxxiv., 900, 1877. 



3 W. Koch, "Milzbrand und Kauschbrand," Stuttgart, 1886, quoted by 

 Conradi (loc. cit.). 



4 Wooldridge, "Note on the Protection in Anthrax," Proc. Roy. Soc., 

 xlii., 312, 1887. 



5 Wooldridge, " Vers. ii. Schutzimpf. auf chemischem Wege," Du Bois 

 Arch., 1888, 527. 



6 Chauveau, " Sur le mecanisme de 1'immun.," Ann. Past., iii., 66, 1888. 



7 Hankin, "On Immunity produced by an Albumose isolated from 

 Anthrax Cultures," Brit. Med. J., 1S89, ii., 65; id., "On the Conflict 

 between the Organism and the Microbe," ibid., 1890, ii., 810; Hankin and 

 Wesbrook, "Albumoses et toxalbumines du bacille charbonneux," Ann. 

 Past.,vi., 633, 1892, 



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