Bacterination 93 



against the unmodified organisms. (See Anthrax.) This 

 method was put to practical test with great success, and has 

 since been extensively practised in different parts of the 

 world. 



Arloing, Cornevin and Thomas,* and Kittf found that 

 exposure of the bacilli to a high temperature in the dry state 

 modified the virulence of the Bacillus anthracis symptoma- 

 tici, and devised a practical method of protecting cattle 

 against symptomatic anthrax by inoculating them with 

 powdered muscle tissue containing the bacilli attenuated by 

 drying and exposure to 85 C. This method (see Symp- 

 tomatic Anthrax) has been in use in many countries with 

 great success ever since, and has given excellent satisfaction. 



In 1889 Pasteur, J continuing his researches upon the 

 experimental modification of the germs of disease and their 

 use as prophylactics published his famous work upon rabies, 

 and showed that, although the micro-organism of that 

 disease had so far eluded discovery, it was contained in the 

 central nervous system of diseased animals, where it could 

 be modified in virulence by drying. By placing spinal cords 

 removed from rabid rabbits in a glass jar containing cal- 

 cium chlorid, he was able to diminish the virulence of the 

 contained micro-organisms according to the duration of the 

 exposure. The introduction of the attenuated virus was fol- 

 lowed by the development of a certain degree of immunity, 

 and was then followed by a more active virus, until by re- 

 peated treatments the animals acquired complete immunity 

 against street virus. (See Rabies or Hydrophobia.) These 

 experiments formed the basis of the " Pasteur method" of 

 treating rabies, which is nothing more than immunization 

 during the incubation period with the modified germs of the 

 disease. 



Haffkine found that the introduction of killed cultures 

 of virulent cholera spirilla produced immunity against the 

 living micro-organisms, and used the method with consider- 

 able success for preventing the disease. Later || he applied the 

 same method, also with considerable success, for the preven- 

 tion of bubonic plague. 



* " Le Charbon Symptomatique du Boeuf," Paris, 1887. 



t " Centralbl. f. Bakt.," etc., i, p. 684. 



J " Compte rendu de la Soc. de Biol. de Paris," 1881, cvm, p. 1228. 



"Brit. Med. Jour.," 1891, n, p. 1278. 



||" Brit. Med. Jour.," 1895, n, p. 1541. 



