TUBERCULOSIS. 251 



bodies of individuals dead of botulism or of animals that 

 have succumbed to injection of the maceration, it is to 

 be borne in mind that the viscera and the blood contain the 

 bacilli only in small numbers. It is, therefore, necessary 

 to examine large quantities, or to place entire organs in the 

 thermostat at a temperature of from 20 C. (68 F.) to 

 30 C. (86 F.), in order to bring about fertilization. Van 

 Ermengem has succeeded in isolating the bacillus from the 

 spleen and from the gastric and intestinal contents from the 

 body of a patient dead of botulism. 



Immunity and Specific Therapy. Immunization of 

 animals to botulism was effected by Kempner with the 

 filtrate of a bouillon-culture in the same way as in the case 

 of diphtheria and of tetanus. The serum of immunized 

 animals is highly antitoxic a further evidence of the fact 

 that the toxin of botulism is closely related to that of 

 diphtheria and that of tetanus. When Kempner injected 

 his serum in doses of from one to five cubic centimeters 

 within from three to twenty-four hours after inoculation of 

 guinea-pigs, the animals survived. As investigations of 

 Kempner and Pollack show, changes in the central nervous 

 system have already taken place after the intoxication has 

 existed for twenty-four hours. These changes in the 

 nerve-cells, as the anatomic evidence seems to show, are 

 neutralized by the serum. 



TUBERCULOSIS. 



The exciting agent of all tuberculous processes is the 

 tubercle-bacillus discovered and cultivated by Robert Koch 

 in the year 1882. 



The first evidence of the infectious nature of tuberculosis was 

 furnished in 1865, by Villemin, who rendered healthy animals 

 tuberculous by inoculation of tuberculous material. These ob- 

 servations were confirmed by Cohnheim, and they were supple- 

 mented by inoculation into the anterior chamber of the eye. 

 Cohnheim, upon the basis of his experiments, formulated the 

 doctrine of the specific etiology of tuberculosis, and this opinion 

 was crystallized into absolute certainty by the classic bacteri- 

 ologic investigations of Koch ("Arbeiten aus dem Reichsge- 

 sundheitsamt, " n). 



Morphology and Staining of Tubercle-bacilli. The 

 tubercle-bacilli are delicate, slender rods, from 0.2 to 0.4^ 



