336 BACTERIOLOGY. 



same material may result in only a localized inflamma- 

 tory process. On the other hand, subcutaneous inocula- 

 tion of less virulent cultures may produce a local process, 

 while intravenous inoculation may be without result. 

 This organism is the cause of a number of pathological 

 conditions in human beings that have not hitherto been 

 considered as related to one another etiologically. It 

 is always present in the inflamed area of the lung in 

 acute fibrinous or lobar pneumonia ; it is known to cause 

 acute cerebro-spinal meningitis, endo- and peri -carditis, 

 certain forms of pleuritis, arthritis and peri-arthritis, 

 and otitis media. 



ANTIPNEUMONIC SERUM. The recent experiments 

 of Panichi 1 on the serum therapy of pneumonia are of 

 great interest. In order to obtain a high grade of anti- 

 pneumonic serum, he first perfected a special culture 

 medium (a special bouillon) in which the organisms 

 produced their specific toxin outside the body. Cultures 

 grown in this special medium killed rabbits acutely with 

 moderate toxic action, while ordinary blood-cultures 

 killed by inducing septicaemia. 



In testing the curative properties of his antipneumonic 

 serum, Panichi injected rabbits subcutaneously with 0.2 

 c.c. of his virulent culture, and subsequently a dose of 

 serum was injected into the ear veins, in proportion to 

 the body-weight of the animal. A dose of 0.25 per cent, 

 of the body-weight sufficed to save the animal if adminis- 

 tered not later than the elapse of five-sixths of the dura- 

 tion of the disease, while the control-animals died in 

 from twenty to fifty-six hours. If the curative dose of 

 serum is delayed longer, 2 per cent, of the body-weight 

 is required instead of only 0.25 per cent. Panichi con- 

 1 Panichi : Cent. f. Bact., Bd. xxxv., Referat. 



