GASEOUS EDEMA. 593 



At times, however, as in a case of Graham Stewart 

 and Baldwin, there is no doubt that the bacillus produces 

 gas in the tissues of the entire body during life. These 

 observers, in a case of abortion with subsequent infection, 

 found the patient "emphysematous from the top of her 

 head to the soles of her feet" several hours before 

 death. 



In this case, in which the bacillus was found in pure 

 culture, it would indeed be difficult to doubt that the 

 fatal issue was due to the bacillus aerogenes capsulatus. 



Williams l has observed the presence of the bacillus in 

 a case of suppurative. pyelitis. Whether the fatal termi- 

 nation of the cases is due to the presence of gas in the 

 vessels, or partly to that and partly to some toxic prop- 

 erty it possesses, has not been worked out as yet. It 

 would seem, however, to have a toxic property from the 

 fact that the onset of the infection is first shown bv the 

 occurrence of chill, pyrexia, and rapid pulse, as well as 

 from the necrotic changes produced by the clumps of 

 bacilli upon the surrounding cells of the tissues in which 

 they occur. 



1 Johns Hopkins Hospital Bulletin, April, 1896, p. 66. 

 38 



