172 Chapter VI 



capable of producing infections, e.g. the disease amongst the 

 Dajyhniae. 



Some observers, no doubt, have come to the conclusion that the 

 various Blastomycetes, when introduced into a refractory organism, 

 undergo complete destruction within a few hours without any inter- 

 vention of phagocytosis. Thus Jona^ explains the disappearance of 

 yeast-cells injected into the veins or peritoneal cavity of the rabbit as 

 due to the sole influence of the microbicidal property of the blood- 

 fluid. Gilkinet^ looks at it from the same point of view. He in- 

 jected beer yeast {Saccliaromyces cerevisiae) into a rabbit and observed 

 that it had disappeared shortly afterwards. The destruction of the 

 yeast-cells, according to this observer, "is effected by means of 

 plasmatic juices " and " is due to a specific property of the organic 

 fluids" whose nature is "quite unknown as regards its essential 

 principle." Phagocytosis is said to play no part in this phenomenon. 

 Let us hasten to say that before the publication of the two works just 

 cited, a memoir by Schattenfroh^ had appeared on the same subject. 

 This observer, who carried out his experiments in Buchner's laboratory 

 at Munich, accurately observed and described the destruction of in- 

 jected yeasts by phagocytes, whilst his experiments on the microbicidal 

 power of the blood and serum failed. This testimony is the more 

 important that it emanates from a school by whom the microbicidal 

 power of the " humours " is regarded as the principal factor in the 

 defence of the animal organism. The facts described by Schattenfroh 

 are perfectly accurate and have been confirmed in my laboratory by 

 Skchiwan*, who did not restrict himself to injecting ordinary yeasts 

 (pink yeast, Saccharomyces pastorianus) but inoculated guinea- 

 pigs with pathogenic yeast-cells, isolated by Curtis^ from a case of 

 [183] myxomatous tumour in man. The guinea-pig is refractory to small 

 doses of this yeast but succumbs to injections of larger quantities : 

 Skchiwan convinced himself that the ingestion of the non-pathogenic 

 yeast-cells takes place with great rapidity. Thus the Saccharomyces 

 pastorianus, in the peritoneal cavity of the guinea-pig, is ingested 

 almost exclusively by microphages at the end of two hours. Some 

 (3 — 4) hours after injection, " sowings '^ of the peritoneal exudation 



* Centralblf. Bacteriol u. Parasitent, Jena, 1897, Bd. xxi, S. 147. 



* Arch, de med. exper. et d'anat. path., Paris, 1897, t. ix, p. 881. 

 « Arch./. Hyg., Miinchen u. Leipzig, 1896, Bd. xxvii, S. 234. 



* Ann. de VInst. Pasteur, Paris, 1899, t. xiii, p. 770. 



* Ihid., 1896, t. X, p. 448. 



