BACILLUS BOTULINUS 475 



are carried into the wounds with the missiles, and the degree of trauma 

 furnishes the conditions under which the bacillus can grow. 



These infections are characterized by a very marked destruction of 

 muscle fibers, histological examination showing a complete disinte- 

 gration of the cells. It is probable that a great deal of acid, especially 

 butyric acid, is formed from the glycogen of the muscle by the gas 

 bacillus, and that this contributes to the intoxication of the patient. 



Stewart and West have studied such infections in guinea-pigs 

 in our laboratory and have noticed great frequency of gastric ulcer 

 formation in guinea-pigs succumbing from the bacillus. Since they 

 could produce similar ulcers by intravenous injections of acetic acid, 

 they concluded that much of the systemic injury caused by the 

 bacillus may be associated with acid production. 



Weinberg and Sacquepee have recently claimed a true toxin in cul- 

 tures isolated from wounded soldiers and have produced an intoxication 

 against this poison. No such true toxin has been found in the cultures 

 studied in our laboratory and this, together with the experiences of 

 many other workers, inclines us to believe that the organism studied 

 by Weinberg and Sacquepee is distinct from the bacteria ordinarily 

 classified with the Welch bacillus. 



BACILLUS BOTULINUS 



Meat poisoning was formerly regarded as universally dependent upon 

 putrefactive changes taking place in infected meat, resulting in the 

 production of ptomains or other harmful products of bacterial putre- 

 faction. It was not until 1888 that certain of these cases were definitely 

 recognized as true bacterial infections, in which the preformed poison 

 probably aided only in establishing the infection. Gartner, in that 

 year, discovered the Bacillus enteritidis, a microorganism belonging to 

 the group of the paracolon bacilli, and demonstrated its presence both 

 in the infecting meat and in the intestinal tracts of patients. The char- 

 acteristics of this type of meat poisoning have been discussed more 

 particularly in the section describing the bacillus of Gartner and its 

 allied forms. 



There is another type of meat poisoning, however, which is not only 

 much more severe (ending fatally in almost 25 per cent of the cases), but 

 is characterized by a clinical picture more significant of a profound 

 systemic toxemia than of a mere gastroenteric irritation. The etio- 

 logical factor underlying this type of infection was first demonstrated 

 31 



