348 



BACILLUS PATHOGENIC IN ANIMALS. 



Disproof of 

 for assuming 



cutaneous oedema, ecchymoses in the intestinal mucous 

 membrane, and often large quantities of bloody fluid in 

 the peritoneal cavity. The jequirity bacilli are present in 

 the blood in large numbers. If such blood is injected 

 into another frog, the latter animal dies with the same 

 symptoms. In the case of mice, rabbits, guinea-pigs, 

 and fowls, extensive oedema occurs after subcutaneous 

 injection of the infusion, and severe pleuritis or peri- 

 tonitis, as well as infarcts in the liver and lungs after 

 injection into the pleural or peritoneal cavities. If the 

 infusion is injected directly into the veins of rabbits, 

 the animals die in a short time, often even after one 

 hour. If the infusion containing the bacilli was filtered 

 through a porcelain filter, the filtrate was found to be 

 without effect. 



In spite of these apparently convincing experiments, 

 ^ ^ as > nevertheless, been most definitely demonstrated 

 b ^ Neisser > Bordet, Widmark, Klein, Bruylants, and 

 ction of the Vennemann, and especially by Salomonsen and Dirckinck- 

 Holmfeld,* that no specific bacteria are concerned in the 

 action of the jequirity, but that the effect is due to the 

 presence of a soluble poisonous substance in the seeds. 

 It was shown that infusions free from bacilli prepared 

 with sterilised water and with the employment of the 

 usual precautions exerted the same effect on the eye, 

 and after subcutaneous injection on the body generally 

 of frogs and warm-blooded animals ; further, neither 

 microscopically nor by cultivation could bacilli be demon- 

 strated in the secretions of the affected eyes ; and pure 

 cultivations of the bacteria which occur in jequirity 

 infusion either produced no effect on animals, or set up, 

 when repeatedly applied to the eyes of rabbits, at most 

 a mild inflammation which could also be produced by 

 other bacteria not peculiar to the jequirity infusion. 

 More accurate experiments also demonstrated that the 



* Neisser, Fortschr. de Med., Bd. 2, Nr. 3. Bordet, Le 

 Lyon, 1883. These. Widmark, Om Jequirity Oftalmien. Stockholm, 

 1843. Klein, Centralbl.f. d. med. Wiss., 1884, Nr. 8. Bruylants and 

 Vennemann, Bull, de VAcad. deMed. deBelg., 3 ser., Bd. 18. Salomonsen 

 nnd Christmas Dirckinck-Holmfeld, Fortschr. d. Med., Bd. 2, Nr. 15 

 11. 19. 



