INOCULATION EXPERIMENTS. 147 



and the animal dragged itself along with difficulty on the front 

 legs. On the sixth day the animal appeared more sick, and two 

 days later died with well-marked symptoms of tetanus. The lique- 

 fied nutrient serum in the glass tube, containing the only secondary 

 culture, hypodermically injected in another rabbit, produced tetanus. 



These experiments appear to prove conclusively that the patient's 

 blood contained the essential microbe of tetanus. The bacillus 

 found in the patient and in the "affected animals corresponded in 

 every respect with the bacillus described by Roseubach. In rab- 

 bits, Fliigge estimated the stage of incubation at from three to five 

 days, and the duration of the illness from the time that the first 

 symptoms were noticed to the fatal termination, from five to seven 

 days. 



Beumer (" Ueber die Aetiologische Bedeutung der Tetanus- 

 bacillen," Berl. klin. Woehenschrift, 1887, No. 31) gives an accu- 

 rate and able description of his studies in two cases of tetanus. 

 The first case occurred in a mechanic, who injured himself under 

 the nail of the right middle finger with a splinter of wood. Eight 

 days after the injury, the patient having had but slight pain in the 

 finger, pains appeared in the neck and muscles of the back. The 

 next morning spasms of the muscles of the cnest, abdomen, and jaw 

 developed. These attacks occurred at intervals of an hour and a 

 half. Four days later the lower extremities were affected, also the 

 upper, but in a less degree. The right middle finger was slightly 

 swollen. An incision was made, and the foreign body removed, 

 which was followed by the escape of a drop of pus ; death on the 

 fourth day. The second case was a boy six and a half years old, 

 who was brought into the clinic with well-marked symptoms of 

 tetanus, and who lived only a few hours after his admission. The 

 author obtained some of the dust and splinters of wood from the 

 place where the mechanic had injured himself, and inserted small 

 particles under the skin of mice and rabbits. In all experiments 

 the animals were attacked with tetanus in from two to three days 

 after inoculation, and died during the third or fourth. The spas- 

 modic contractions were always noticed first in the muscles nearest 

 the point of inoculation. A portion of the sole of the foot was 

 taken from the boy, and small fragments of it inserted into the 

 subcutaneous tissue of six mice. In all of these, symptoms of 

 tetanus appeared after two days, developing gradually into general 

 convulsions and death. The same results were obtained in mice 

 and rabbits by inoculations of particles of dust taken from the 

 spot where the boy sustained the injury. The bacillus of tetanus 

 was found in the wound of the second patient Beumer is firmly 

 convinced that a direct relationship exists between the bacillus 

 described by Nicolaier and Rosenbach and the cause of tetanus. 



