104 



Tuberculosis, 



infection with the typus bovin- 

 us, from an extensive form of 

 tuberculosis. Guinea pigs die 

 more quickly from an inocula- 

 tion with bovine tubercle bacilli 

 than from an inoculation with 

 the bacillus of human type. 



neighboring glands; a great 

 healing tendency prevails. 



Intravenous injections of 1 

 mg. of the typus humanus into 

 the vein of a mouse will show it 

 to possess a greater resistance 

 than when inoculated with the 

 typus bovinus. 



In the last 10 years about 2000 strains of tubercle bacilli from man and cattle 

 have been cultivated and studied. In these studies even further differences were found 

 which, however, are not as constant as those given above; for instance, the bacillus of 

 the human type in glycerin bouillon cultures is delicate, slender, slightly curved, and 

 of beaded staining qualities, whereas the bovine strain is regular, plump, thick without 

 granular differentiation in staining, and frequently with swollen ends. The pigment 

 formation on glycerin potato is more typical of the human type than the bovine type. 

 The former when placed on serum in hermetically sealed glass tubes remains viable for 

 twelve months, the latter for over a year. 



Contrary to the views of many investigators of tuberculosis, 

 Nocard, Hueppe, Von Behring, Komer, de Jong and others support 

 the theory that the tubercle bacillus adapts itself to the infected 

 animal and becomes transformed as a result of its environment. 

 Rabinowitsch, Dammann and Eber have also supported this trans- 

 formation theory. The latter especially attempted to prove by ex- 

 tensive experiments and investigations that Bacillus humanus, 

 by passage through cattle, changes into the bovine type. This 

 question however appears at the present, to be decided in favor 

 of the stability of the bacillus. 



It has at least been shown with six various strains of the human type, that in 

 passage experiments through 2 to 7 cattle, in from 247 to 512 days, the character of 

 the bacillus was not changed (English Commission and Weber), and that bacilli of 

 the human type by eight subsequent passages through goats, in 516 days, and by four 

 passages through cattle in 685 days, were not influenced in their typical characteristics. 



The immunization experiments which were undertaken with the bacillus of the 

 human type on cattle showed no changes whatsoever in the human type after the pres- 

 ence of the bacteria in cattle for a year and seven months (Baldwin) in spite of their 

 propagation in the udder of the cow. The same results were obtained in three experi- 

 ments by Weber, Titze and Joern, who allowed the bacillus of the human type to exist 

 in the body of cattle for two years and one month and for two years and six months. 



Eber's experiments found no confirmation in the Imperial Board of Health; the 

 experiments however are being continued in strict co-operation with Eber. 



On the contrary it is shown that the bovine bacillus constantly 

 retains its characteristics within the human body. 



From a boy who was affected since his second year with tuberculosis of the fourth 

 digital bone of his hand, it was possible during surgical interference to obtain material 

 from the same place at five different times, during his age from 8 to 13 years. The in- 

 fection was caused by the bovine bacillus. 



In spite of their existence for ten and a half years in the human body these 

 bovine bacilli had retained their characteristics. A marked influence in their virulence 

 was manifested, however, since the bacilli, from the second operation, in quantities of 

 2 mg. could no longer kill rabbits even after intravenous inoculations. From the sub- 

 sequent operations it was found that the virulence was again increased. 



Griffith obtained the same results with bovine cultures from lupus from which the 

 bacilli were isolated six months, two and three and a half years, respectively, after the 

 first examination. It is true that the virulence was several times lower than is or- 

 dinarily the case with the bovine type; the other characteristics of the strain however 



