SUP PUR A TION WITHO UT BAG TERIA. 1 7 7 



from atrophy of muscles, especially of the posterior limbs, these 

 symptoms being due to lesions of the cells in the anterior cornua of the 

 spinal cord. Somewhat similar results have been obtained by others 

 after inoculations with staphylococci and streptococci, a certain propor- 

 tion only of the animals showing paralytic symptoms and corresponding 

 changes in the spinal cord. The lesions are believed to be due chiefly 

 to the action of the products of the organisms on the highly-organised 

 nervous elements. Much further research requires to be done before the 

 importance of these results can be properly estimated, but it is not im- 

 probable that they will throw light on the causation of nervous lesions 

 which occur in the human subject, and the etiology of which at present 

 is quite obscure. Some observers, chiefly of the French school, con- 

 sider that paralysis associated with cystitis, in which the bacillus coli 

 communis is often present, may have such a causation, and that 

 paralytic conditions following acute infective fevers may be produced 

 by the products of pyogenic cocci which frequently occur in these 

 conditions. 



Can Suppuration occur apart from Bacteria ? After it 

 had been conclusively proved that bacteria were the chief 

 causes of suppuration, a great many experiments were per- 

 formed to determine whether it could be produced by 

 simple chemical substances, such as croton oil, nitrate of 

 silver, mercury, etc. In these experiments various means 

 have been employed to ensure the absence of bacteria. In 

 some cases the chemical substance to be tested was placed 

 in a closed glass capsule, which, after being sterilised, was 

 inserted in the tissues and was not broken until the external 

 wound had healed up ; in other cases the capsule was made 

 with pointed ends, so that it could be moved in the body 

 of the animal to another part, and there broken. The 

 general conclusion obtained by independent observers is 

 that in these conditions suppuration usually does not 

 follow, but that in certain animals and with certain chemical 

 substances it may occur, the pus which forms showing no 

 organisms on bacteriological examination. Such suppura- 

 tion, however, never produces secondary abscesses in other 

 parts, and it is still questioned by some whether the pus 

 produced really corresponds histologically and chemically 

 with pus naturally produced. Buchner showed that sup- 

 puration could be produced by injections of dead bacteria, 

 for example, sterilised cultures of bacillus pyocyaneus, 



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