594 BACTERIA IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 



of bacterial growth are destroyed by the same temperature, We are, there- 

 fore, not justified in assuming that the morbid phenomena are directly due 

 to the presence of a living microorganism ; and, indeed, it seems probable, 

 from what we already know, that the symptoms developed and the death of 

 the animal are due to the action of a potent chemical poison of the class 

 known as toxalbumins. But, if this is true, we have still to account for the 

 production of the toxic albuminoid substance, and, in the present state of 

 knowledge, have no other way to explain its increase in the body of the in- 

 fected animal than the supposition that a specific, living germ is present in 

 the virulent material, the introduction of which into the body of a suscep- 

 tible animal gives rise to morbid phenomena characterizing 1 an attack of 

 rabies. 



Pasteur and his associates have thus far failed to demonstrate the pre- 

 sence of microorganisms in the virulent tissues of animals which have suc- 

 cumbed to an attack of rabies. Babes has obtained micrococci in cultures 

 from the brain and spinal cord of rabid animals, and states in his article on 

 hydrophobia in u Les Bacteries" (second edition, page 791) that pure cultures 

 of the second and third generations induced rabies in susceptible animals ; but 

 his own later researches do not appear to have established the etiological re- 

 lation of this micrococcus. 



Gibier (1884) has reported the presence of spherical refractive granules, 

 resembling micrococci, in the brain of rabid animals, which he demonstrated 

 by rubbing up a little of the cerebral substance with distilled water. As 

 these supposed micrococci did not stain with the usual aniline colors and 

 were not cultivated, it appears very doubtful whether the refractive granules 

 seen were really microorganisms. 



Fol (1885) claims to have demonstrated the presence of minute cocci, 0.2 u 

 in diameter, in sections of spinal cord from rabid animals, by Weigert's 

 method of staining. The cords were hardened in a solution of bichromate 

 of potash and sulphate of copper, colored with a solution of hsematoxylon, 

 and decolorized in a solution of ferrocyanide of potash and borax. 



The writer (1887) has made similar preparations, carefully following the 

 method as described by Fol, but was not able to demonstrate the presence of 

 microorganisms in the numerous sections made. Nor have the observations 

 of Fol been confirmed by the researches of other bacteriologists who have 

 given their attention to the subject since the publication of his paper. 



With reference to the results of Pasteur's protective inoculations, we 

 may say that it is now pretty generally admitted that the published statistics 

 demonstrate the prophylactic value of the method as practised at the Pasteur 

 Institute in Paris. 



ICTERUS. 



Karlinsky (1890), in a series of five cases of " infectious icterus " attended 

 with fever, found in the blood, during the height of the attack, curved 

 bacilli from two to six u long and one-third to one n broad, which were readily 

 stained by the usual aniline colors, but not by Gram's method. These he 

 did not succeed in cultivating in any of the culture media usually employed. 



Ducamp (1890) has also given an account of a " slight epidemic of infec- 

 tious icterus," which he supposes to have been due to microorganisms. 



In "Weil's disease," which is characterized by fever and icterus, and is 

 believed to be an infectious malady, Jaeger (1892) has obtained a bacillus 

 which he considers the specific infectious agents in the disease his Proteus 

 fluorescens. 



Vincent (1893) in a case of icterus with fever, which ended fatally in 

 forty-eight hours, obtained cultures of Bacillus coli commuiiis from the blood 

 and various organs. 



