40 INFECTION 



ante-delivery sepsis and cause peritonitis in the child. Recurrent 

 fever has been transmitted from mother to foetus, and the specific 

 spirillum has been detected in the latter's blood. 



A case has been recorded in which a woman suffering from 

 pneumonia gave birth to a child, which died thirty-six hours after- 

 ward, and autopsy revealed a consolidation of the lower left lung, 

 and microscopic examination discovered pneumococci. A hydro- 

 phobic cow was delivered of a calf that developed rabies three days 

 after birth. 



McFarland divides microbic infection in three heads : 



Phlogistic. Characterized by restricted growth and local 

 irritation. 



Toxic. Characterized by restricted growth and toxin dissemi- 

 nation. 



Septic. Characterized by unrestricted growth in the blood and 

 lymph. In the three groups, the damage is done ultimately, by 

 metabolic products acting on the tissues. If the product be not 

 soluble the harm done is purely local, as in the formation of tuber- 

 cles by the toxin of the tubercle bacilli. 



If the growth be restricted, as in tetanus and diphtheria, the 

 toxin being soluble and diffusible, harm is done to tissues remote 

 from the infected area. 



Anthrax and streptococci and other pus organisms by rapid 

 increase in the blood eventually infect all the tissues. 



Combinations of these forms of infection may be at first confined 

 to some particular area; the pneumococcus, which is generally 

 restricted to the lungs at the outset, may ultimately infect the 

 blood, causing septicaemia and localized lesions in more or less 

 remote parts, such as the veins of the leg, or inflammation of the 

 meninges. In a topographical sense infection may be local, focal 

 and general. Local disease is limited in extent and at most gives 

 only trifling general manifestations by absorption of products of 

 inflammation, a boil. When an infection becomes well established 

 in a small locality but without active general evidences, it may 





