PTOMAINES OF THE BACILLUS TETANI. 151 



smaller bacillus. He also made numerous inoculation experiments 

 with different kinds of earth. Of ten experiments with soil taken 

 from the ocean beach, tetanus followed in only two. On the other 

 hand, of ten inoculations with garden earth and street dust, all proved 

 successful but one. Of three cases of tetanus which recently came 

 under the observation of Lumniczer (" Beitrage zur Aetiologie des 

 Tetanus," Wiener med. Presse, B. xxx. Nos. 10-12) he was able to 

 demonstrate the microorganism in one. In this case the attack 

 followed a gunshot injury. After the disease had developed frag- 

 ments of hemp were removed from the canal made by the bullet, 

 and in them the characteristic bacillus was found Cultures were 

 made to the tenth generation, and with them animals were inocu- 

 lated and tetanus was invariably produced. Pus taken from ab- 

 scesses produced at that point of inoculation contained the bacillus, 

 and injection experiments made with it yielded positive results. 

 Cultures made from the blood or organs of the tetanic animals re- 

 mained sterile. Inoculation with blood from these animals proved 

 harmless. Kitasato (op. cit.) experimented with a pure culture of 

 the bacillus of tetanus on mice, rats, guinea-pigs, and rabbits, and 

 never failed in producing the disease, provided a sufficiently large 

 dose of the culture was administered. Jn mice the disease appeared, 

 without exception, 24 hours after the inoculation, and proved fatal 

 in 2 or 3 days. The tetanic convulsions were first always local, 

 appearing at the point of inoculation, becoming gradually more 

 diffuse. He was unable to find bacilli at the seat of inoculation, 

 in the blood or any of the organs of the body. He believes that if 

 the tetanus is produced by inoculation with a pure culture the 

 bacilli do not remain in the body for any length of time, but are 

 rapidly eliminated. The same question has been raised in connec- 

 tion with the pathogenic action of the bacillus of tetanus as with 

 the pus-microbes, Is the disease of which it is the specific cause due 

 to the presence of the microbe, or its products in the organism (the 

 ptomaines) ? Brieger, by his indefatigable labors, has demonstrated 

 beyond all doubt that 



1 he Ptomaines of the Bacillus Tetani cause Tetanic Convulsions. 



Brieger ("Zur Kenntnissder Aetiologie des Wundstarrkrampfes 

 nebst Bemerkungen iiber das Cholera- roth," Deutsche med. Wochen- 

 schrift, 1887, p. 303) has succeeded in isolating four toxic sub- 

 stances from mixed cultivations of tetanus bacilli in sterilized meat 

 emulsions. The first, tetauiu, in doses of a few milligrammes ad- 

 ministered subcutaneously in mice produced the characteristic symp- 

 toms of tetanus. The second, tetanotoxin, causes first, tremors, 

 later, paralysis and convulsions. The third, muriate of toxin, has 



