82 PATHOGENIC BACTERIA. 



opinions of Wurtz and Bouchard that under certain con- 

 ditions bacteria can pass from the intestine into the 

 tissues and enter the blood while the heart is still beating 

 in agony. 



The observations of White x that the human blood is 

 normally germicidal for the colon bacillus, but loses this 

 power in many cases shortly before death, may explain 

 why the agonal invasion occurs in some cases and not 

 in others. 



The occurrence of a lesion of the intestine is by no means 

 sufficient to produce an infection, and in this particular 

 the experiments of Neisser 2 are very instructive. He 

 fed mice, guinea pigs, and rabbits upon a variety of 

 pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria both before and 

 after injuries to the intestine caused by the ingestion 

 of powdered glass, chemic agents, and irritating bacteria. 

 He failed to show that, with the exception of those bac- 

 teria whose particular tendency is to produce intestinal 

 disease, any entered either the chyliferous vessels, the 

 blood-vessels, or the organs. 



Adami 3 believes that colon bacilli and probably other 

 micro-organisms are constantly being taken up from the 

 intestine in small numbers in health, and are taken to 

 the liver and other organs, where they are slowly de- 

 stroyed. Usually no harm results from the absorption 

 of the organisms, but as infection is always possible as 

 the result of it he proposes the term "sub-infection" 

 by which to describe it. 



The otherwise difficultly explainable cases in which 

 the tubercle bacillus makes its first appearance deep in 

 the bones, or staphylococci in osteomyelitis, etc., have 

 led many to conclude that bacteria may pass through the 

 uninjured intestinal wall and be carried to remote situa- 

 tions by the blood. It should not be forgotten, however, 



1 Boston Med. and Surg. Journal, cxl., No. 8. 

 * Zeitschrift fur Hygiene, June 25, 1896, Bd. xxii., Heft 1. 

 1 Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc., Dec. 16 and 23, 1899, vol. xxxiii., Nos. 25 

 and 26. 



