150 .TETANUS. 



result was satisfactory, inasmuch as inoculations produced positive 

 results in mice and blood-serum. Inoculations of these cultures 

 into a ten per cent, peptone gelatin medium caused rapid liquefac- 

 tion, and the microscope showed thicker rods with long processes. 

 In some cultures, bacilli of tetanus were found as late as the ninth 

 day. Inoculation with the last cultures had no effect. He ascer- 

 tained also that inoculations with earth had so often failed because 

 not enough material was used. He made additional experiments 

 using a much larger quantity. The first experiment, in which a 

 portion of earth half the size of a pea was inserted under the skin 

 on the back, was successful. After twelve hours the mouse 

 sickened, in twenty hours presented typical evidences of tetanus, 

 and died soon afterward. In the pus at the seat of inoculation 

 cocci and bacilli of tetanus were found in abundance and inocula- 

 tion with the product of inflammation produced tetanus as surely as 

 pus taken from wounds of tetanic patients. The same earth ex- 

 posed for half an hour to an hour to the action of steam was ren- 

 dered sterile and inoculations with it proved harmless. 



Of the greatest scientific and practical interest are the observa- 

 tions made by Bouome ( u Ueber die Aetiologie des Tetanus," 

 Fortschritte der Medicin, 1887, No. 21) in reference to the causation 

 of tetanus by infection with earth containing the bacillus discovered 

 by Nicolaier. He had an opportunity to observe a number of cases 

 of tetanus after the recent earthquake at Bajardo. Of the seventy 

 persons injured in the ruins of the church, seven were attacked by 

 tetanus. From bacteriological investigations in connection with 

 these cases, he came to the same conclusions in regard to the cause 

 of the disease as Nicolaier, Rosenbach, Fliigge, and Beumer before 

 him. He likewise was unable to obtain a pure cultivation by suc- 

 cessive generations, as even the last growth was always contami- 

 nated by a bacillus of putrefaction. Of particular importance is 

 the observation made by him, that the secretions from the wounds 

 and the exudation from the part the seat of tetanic convulsions, 

 when dried and preserved between two sterilized watch-glasses 

 retained their virulent properties for at least four months. All 

 animals inoculated with dust from the debris in the interior of the 

 church were attacked with tetanus. Control experiments with dust 

 from the ruins at Diauo- Marina never proved successful. Of the 

 many persens injured during the same earthquake at this place, not 

 one was attacked by tetanus. 



Beumer (" Zur Aetiologie des Trismus sive Tetanus neonatorum," 

 Zeitschrift fur Hygiene, B. iii. S. 242) found Nicolaier's bacillus in 

 a case of tetanus neonatorum. He made numerous efforts to obtain 

 a pure culture by successive cultivations, but failed, as others had 

 before him. He found the growth contaminated by cocci and a 



