378 PATHOGENIC BACTERIA. 



times contains them, so that the eruption may be regarded 

 as one of the local irritative manifestations of the bacillus. 



The amount of local disturbance, in proportion to the 

 constitutional disturbance, is, in the majority of cases, 

 slight, and almost always partakes of a necrotic charac- 

 ter, which suggests that in typhoid we have to do with a 

 toxic bacterium whose disease-producing capacity resides 

 in the elaboration of a toxic substance. This, indeed, 

 is true, for Brieger and Frankel have separated from 

 bouillon cultures a toxalbumin which they thought to be 

 the specific poison. Klemperer and Levy also point out 

 further clinical proof in certain exceptional cases dying 

 with the typical picture of typhoid, yet without char- 

 acteristic post-mortem lesions, the only confirmation of 

 the diagnosis being the discovery of the bacilli in the 

 spleen. 



Pfeiffer and Kolle found that the toxic substance resided 

 only in the bodies of the bacilli, and could not, like the 

 toxins of diphtheria and tetanus, be dissolved in the cul- 

 ture-medium. This was an obstacle to their immuniza- 

 tion-experiments as well as those of Loftier and Abel, 

 later to be described, for the only method of immuniz- 

 ing animals to large quantities of the bacilli was to make 

 massive agar-agar cultures, scrape the bacilli from the 

 surface, and distribute them through nutrient bouillon. 



When injected into guinea-pigs the typhotoxin of 

 Brieger is productive of increased secretion of saliva, in- 

 creased rapidity of respiration, diarrhea, and mydriasis, 

 and usually causes a fatal termination in from twenty- 

 four to forty-eight hours. 



As the discovery of the bacilli in the spleen, and espe- 

 cially the securing of a pure culture of the bacilli from 

 the spleen, are sometimes attended with considerable dif- 

 ficulty because of the dissemination of the colonies 

 throughout the organ, E. Frankel recommends that as 

 soon as the organ is removed from the body it be wrapped 

 in cloths wet with a solution of bichlorid of mercury and 

 kept for three days in a warm room, in order that a con- 



