THE ANAEROBIC BACILLI 763 



Identification of Anaerobes Present in Wound Cultures. From 

 the point of serum treatment of infected wounds, the prompt iden- 

 tification of the members of saccharolytic group, B. Welchii, B. 

 oedematiens and Vibrion Septique, is most important. The process 

 of purification and identification by cultural methods is at best slow, 

 and Henry 30 has, therefore, suggested the inoculation of the unknown 

 material into immunized guinea-pigs as the quickest and most 

 reliable method. The procedure he outlines is as follows : inoculate 

 the unknown mixed culture into cooked meat medium, and incubate. 

 The next day inoculate the supernatant fluid into milk, and inject in- 

 tramuscularly into two immunized guinea-pigs, one pig having received 

 a mixture of B. Welchii and Vibrion Septique antitoxin, the other a 

 mixture of B. Welchii and B. oedematiens. The stormy fermenta- 

 tion of milk is diagnostic for B. Welchii and this reaction takes place 

 within twenty-four hours. If the pig that was protected against 

 Vibrion Septique (the B. Welchii factor having been eliminated in 

 both pigs) dies, it indicates the presence of some other pathogenic 

 anaerobe, probably B. oedematiens. The diagnosis of B. oedematiens 

 is further indicated if the guinea-pig that received the B. oedematiens 

 combination of sera survives. If the animal inoculations come out 

 in the opposite way, the presence of Vibrion Septique is indicated. 

 The pathogenic organism can usually be isolated from the heart's 

 blood of the animal that succumbs. By using a "filter" of protected 

 guinea-pigs in this way, the pathogenic organisms can be separated 

 out and the specific sferum injected into the patient within forty-eight 

 hours. 



THE COOPERATION OF SURGERY AND BACTERIOLOGY IN 

 THE MANAGEMENT OF TRAUMATIC WOUNDS (WAR 

 WOUNDS) 



The extensive experience gained by surgeons, during the war, 

 in connection with infected wounds has developed a number of 

 important bacteriological methods which are likely to remain as 

 parts of the routine work of civil hospitals, especially those in 

 which traumatic cases are handled. 



It is not our intention to go into the various problems and con- 

 troversies that have arisen among surgeons concerning the value 

 of irrigation with Dakin's solution or with other antiseptics. This 



30 Henry and Lacy, Jour. Pathol. and Bacter., 32, 1920, No. 3. 



