EXTENSION OF THE GERM THEORY 393 



the blood corpuscles for oxygen and that belonging to the 

 parasite in cultures. Whilst the blood corpuscles carry 

 off, that is, take possession of all the oxygen, the life and 

 development of the parasite become extremely difficult or 

 impossible. It is therefore easily eliminated, digested, if 

 one may use the phrase. I have seen these facts many times 

 in anthrax and chicken-cholera, diseases both of which are 

 due to the presence of an aerobic parasite. 



Blood cultures from the general circulation being always 

 sterile in these experiments, it would seem that under the 

 conditions of the furuncular diathesis, the minute parasite 

 does not exist in the blood. That it cannot be cultivated for 

 the reason given, and that it is not abundant is evident ; but, 

 from the sterility of the cultures reported (five only) it 

 should not be definitely concluded that the little parasite may 

 not, at some time, be taken up by the blood and transplanted 

 from a furuncle when it is developing to another part of 

 the body, where it may be accidentally lodged, may develop 

 and produce a new furuncle. I am convinced that if, in cases 

 of furuncular diathesis, not merely a few drops but several 

 grams of blood from the general circulation could be placed 

 under cultivation frequent successful growths would be ob- 

 tained.* In the many experiments I have made on the blood 

 in chicken-cholera, I have frequently demonstrated that re- 

 peated cultures from droplets of blood do not show an even 

 development even where taken from the same organ, the 

 heart for example, and at the moment when the parasite 

 begins its existence in the blood, which can easily be under- 

 stood. Once even, it happened that only three out of ten 

 chickens died after inoculation with infectious blood in 

 which the parasite had just began to appear, the remaining 

 seven showed no symptoms whatever. In fact, the microbe, 

 at the moment of beginning its entrance into the blood may 

 exist singly or in minute numbers in one droplet and not 

 at all in its immediate neighbor. I believe therefore that 

 it would be extremely instructive in furunculosis, to find a 

 patient willing to submit to a number of punctures in dif- 



This prediction is fully carried out in the present day successful use of 

 considerable amounts of blood in cultures and the resultant frequent demon* 

 strations of bacteria present in the circulation in many infections. 

 Translator. 



