100 POISONOUS PRODUCTS OF BACTERIA. 



killed by the almost inconceivable amount of 0.00000005 of 

 a gram of the toxin. The toxins of other organisms are not 

 nearly so poisonous. The severe constitutional symptoms 

 accompanying typhoid, diphtheria, tetanus, pneumonia, etc., 

 are sufficient evidence to prove that the germs causing these 

 diseases have not merely a local action, but that they also 

 elaborate some substance which is absorbed and disseminated 

 throughout the body, and to which the general reaction is 

 due. These substances are certainly poisonous, or toxic, and 

 therefore are referred to as toxins. The intensity of the gen- 

 eral reaction would depend naturally on the amount of toxin 

 absorbed and its intensity. 



That the body of the germ also contains a toxin can be 

 demonstrated by the injection of dead cultures, which is fol- 

 lowed by a typical reaction. 



Buchner calls all these toxins bacterial proteins. Those 

 which cause fever he terms pyogenic ; those which cause 

 inflammation, phlogogenic. Koch's old tuberculin and mal- 

 lein are proteins. 



