TOXINS 51 



solution, 1 c.c. of the resulting emulsion is capable of neutralizing as 

 much as 10 fatal doses of the toxin (i. e., fatal for white mice) and of 

 causing a marked decrease in the toxic action of as much as 60 fatal 

 doses of the toxin. The blood, liver, kidneys, spleen, and muscles, on 

 the other hand, do not possess this neutralizing power. The affinity 

 which exists between the hemolytic toxin (staphylolysin) produced 

 by staphylococcus aureus and red corpuscles is similarly shown when 

 the toxin is allowed to act upon the red cells at C., at which tem- 

 perature hemolysis does not take place; if, then, the corpuscles are 

 thrown down by centrifugation the supernatant fluid will be found 

 to have lost its hemolytic action, while the red cells have taken up 

 the active principle and hold this so tenaciously that it cannot be 

 abstracted again, even on repeated washing with normal salt solu- 

 tion. Other cells are practically inert in this respect. Another toxin 

 produced by the staphylococcus the leukocydin has a similar 

 selective affinity for leukocytes. 



The activity of the toxins is most remarkable and far exceeds 

 that of the most toxic ptomains. One preparation of tetanus toxin 

 could thus be shown to be fatal for mice in a dose of 0.00000025 

 gram, and another in the still smaller dose of 0.00000005 gram. A 

 culture of the bacillus botulinus similarly produced a fatal effect 

 in doses varying between 0.01 and 0.00005 c.c. These figures assume 

 increased significance if we remember that the toxins have never been 

 prepared in a state of chemical purity and that our purest products 

 are still contaminated with a preponderating amount of inert 

 material. 



While the diphtheria bacillus, the tetanus bacillus, and the bacillus 

 botulinus are usually mentioned as being the only bacteria which 

 secrete a soluble toxin, it is now known that a number of other 

 organisms also furnish soluble toxins, and there is hence good ground 

 for the belief that some of the symptoms which are observed in the 

 corresponding infections may be referable to such toxins and are in a 

 measure characteristic. The organisms in question are the dysentery 

 bacillus, the bacillus of symptomatic anthrax, the cholera vibrio and 

 closely related organisms (vibrio El Tor, vibrio Nasik), the typhoid 

 bacillus, the pyocyaneus, and the staphylococcus aureus. Of these 

 the dysentery toxin (in the animal experiment) produces paralyses 

 (especially of the posterior extremities), hemorrhagic diarrhea and 

 subnormal temperature; the typhoid toxin diarrhea, hyperemia, 



