544 B A CTERIOL OGY. 



In the use of tetanus antitoxin it is advisable to 

 employ it as early as possible and to give repeated doses 

 until the symptoms are relieved. Whether the subdurul 

 administration of the antitoxin will be of greater value 

 than the subcutaneous administration is as yet unsolved. 



A great deal of benefit is also likely to result from 

 the administration of tetanus antitoxin as a prophy- 

 lactic in the treatment of wounds in which infection by 

 the tetanus bacillus is possible. The prophylactic injec- 

 tion of the tetanus antitoxin in these cases, however, 

 should always be accompanied by the most rigid aseptic 

 and antiseptic treatment of the wound, and under these 

 conditions it is more or less doubtful which of these 

 measures is of the greatest value, but experience seems 

 to indicate that the antitoxin has a distinct prophylactic 

 influence in these cases. 



BACILLUS CEDEMATIS, LIBORIUS, 1886. 



The bacillus of malignant oedema, also known as 

 vibrion septique, is another pathogenic form almost 

 everywhere present in the soil. In certain respects it 

 is a little like bacterium anthracis, and was at one 

 time confounded with it ; but it differs in the marked 

 peculiarity of being a strict anaerobe. It was first 

 observed by Pasteur, but it was not until later that 

 Koch, Laborious, Kitt, and others described its pecu- 

 liarities in detail. It can often be obtained by 

 inserting under the skin of rabbits or guinea-pigs small 

 portions of garden-earth, street-dust, or decomposing 

 organic substances. There results a widespread oedema, 

 with more or less gas-production in the tissues. In the 

 cedematous fluid about the site of inoculation the organ- 

 ism under consideration may be detected. (Fig. 88, A.) 



