SEPTICAEMIA. 



passing through different media. Buchner even went so far as to 

 claim that perfectly harmless bacteria might thus be made to 

 assume pathogenic qualities. Koch and his pupils took a most 

 decided stand against such mutability of form, or action of any 

 bacteria. 



Coze and Feltz (Hecherches exprimentales sur la presence des 

 infusoires dans les maladies infectieuses, Strassburg, 1866) produced 

 sepsis in animals by injecting putrid substances directly into the cir- 

 culation, and could not only demonstrate the presence of bacteria 

 in the blood, but were able to propagate the disease from one ani- 

 mal to another. 



Gaft'ky ( u Experimentell erzeugte Septicsemie," etc , Mitfheilun- 

 gen aus dem Kaiscrl. Gesundheitsamte, B. i. S. 80) investigated 

 Davaine's septicaemia experimentally. He procured the infection 

 by using water from a stagnant river, and, by continually control- 

 ling the experiments with the microscope, using Koch's methods, 

 and working only with pure cultures, he was able to prove beyond 

 a doubt that the theories of progressive virulence of bacteria were 

 untenable. He showed that the highest degree of virulence was 

 already attained in the second generation. He also proved that the 

 wrong conclusions were due to im purification in the experiments, 

 and that when the proper precautions are taken in the process of 

 sterilization to prevent the admixture of other microorganisms, 

 the introduction of one kind always produces in the same animal 

 the same definite specific result. The most interesting conclusions 

 to be drawn from the experiments in Koch's laboratory, point to 

 the fact that septicaemia is only a general term which includes a 

 number of morbid processes, and this is well illustrated by the 

 injection into the tissues of the u vibriones septiques" of Pasteur. 

 Surface inoculation with these bacilli produced no effect, their 

 pathogenic influence became only evident after injections into the 

 subcutaneous connective tissue. Gaffky found that this bacillus 

 grows most readily upon potato. Koch applied to the condition 

 produced by this bacillus the term u malignant oedema." A minute 

 quantity of these bacilli, taken from a second potato that is, a 

 second generation injected under the skin of a guinea-pig proved 

 fatal on the second day with all the usual signs of malignant 

 oedema and septic intoxication. This bacillus is not only contained 

 in stagnant water, but can also be obtained from garden earth. 



Sternberg (" Induced Septicaemia in the Rabbit," American 

 Journal of the Medical Sciences, July, 1882) produced marked 

 septicaemia in rabbits by injecting subcutaneously his own saliva 

 in small doses. Injections of 1.25 to 1.75 c.c. with few excep- 

 tions produced death, usually within forty-eight hours. The con- 

 stant and characteristic lesion found was a diffuse cellulitis, or 



