358 A MANUAL OF BACTERIOLOGY 



agglutination reaction with typhoid blood ; but the same 

 agglutinating effect was also produced on the colon bacillus. 

 Many chemical substances also produce agglutination of 

 typhoid bacilli, so that it is necessary to exclude them in 

 making a diagnosis. For example, corrosive sublimate 

 (0-7 : 1000), alcohol, salicylic acid, vesuvin, and safranin 

 (1 : 1000) agglutinate, while carbolic and lactic acids, 

 chloroform, caustic soda, and ammonia do not, the two last 

 only provided the test typhoid emulsion be made with dis- 

 tilled water. Safranin has a powerful agglutinating action 

 on the typhoid bacillus, but not on the colon bacillus. 



While there is no constant connection between the 

 activity of agglutination and the severity of the disease, 

 active agglutination tends to go with cases which recover, 

 and cases in which agglutination is feeble or absent tend 

 to be severe. 



Toxins. From cultures of the typhoid bacillus Brieger 

 isolated a base which he termed typhotoxin, and which is 

 isomeric with gadinine. In animals it produced salivation, 

 profuse diarrhoea, paralysis, and death. Brieger and 

 Frankel isolated from cultures a toxic protein body. 

 Fen wick and Bokenham l extracted from spleens of 

 typhoid fever patients a proteose, an alkaloid, and a fatty 

 residue. The proteose produced fever, anorexia, and loss 

 of weight in guinea-pigs and rabbits, but the alkaloid and 

 fatty matter were without effect. 



The toxins of the typhoid bacillus, however, seem to 

 be largely intra- cellular, and filtered broth cultures are 

 usually almost non-toxic. Sidney Martin 2 by cultivating 

 in a protein medium was able sometimes to obtain a 

 toxic nitrate, a few c.c. of which produced lowered tem- 

 perature, diarrhoea and death. Macfadyen and Rowland, 3 



1 Brit. Med. Journ., 1895, vol. i, p. 801. 



2 Ibid. 1898, vol. ii, pp. 11 and 73. 



3 Centr. f. Bakt., xxx, p. 753. 



