194 GONORRHOLA, SOFT SORE, SYPHILIS. 



Intraperitoneal injections of pure cultures of the gono- 

 coccus in white mice produce a localised peritonitis with a 

 small amount of suppuration, the organisms being found in 

 large numbers in the leucocytes (Wertheim). They also 

 penetrate the peritoneal lining and are found in the sub- 

 endothelial connective tissue, but they appear to have 

 little power of proliferation, they soon disappear, and the 

 inflammatory condition does not spread. Injection of pure 

 cultures into the joints of rabbits, dogs, and guinea-pigs 

 causes an acute inflammation, which, however, soon sub- 

 sides, whilst the gonococci rapidly die out ; a practically 

 similar result is obtained when dead cultures are used. 

 These experiments show that while the organism, when 

 present in large numbers, can produce a certain amount of 

 inflammatory change in these animals, it has little or no 

 power of multiplying and spreading in their tissues. 



Toxine of the Gonococcus. De Christmas has cultivated the 

 gonococcus in a mixture of one part of ascitic fluid and three parts of 

 bouillon, and has found that the fluid after twelve days' growth has 

 toxic properties. At this period all the organisms are dead and the 

 toxic substances are apparently derived from the breaking down of the 

 bodies of the organisms. Such a fluid constitutes the "toxine." The 

 toxic substances are precipitated along with the proteids by alcohol, and 

 the precipitate after being desiccated possesses the toxic action. In 

 young rabbits injection of the toxine produces suppuration ; this is 

 well seen in the anterior chamber of the eye, where hypopyon results. 

 The most interesting point, however, is with regard to its action on 

 mucous surfaces ; for, while in the case of animals it produces no 

 effect, its introduction into the human urethra causes acute catarrh, 

 attended with purulent discharge. He found that no tolerance to the 

 toxines resulted after five successive injections at intervals. 



Distribution in the Tissues. The gonococcus having 

 been thus shown to be the direct cause of the disease, some 

 additional facts may be given regarding its presence both 

 in the primary and secondary lesions. In the human 

 urethra the gonococci penetrate the mucous membrane, 

 passing chiefly between the epithelial cells, causing a 

 loosening and desquamation of many of the latter and 

 inflammatory reaction in the tissues below, attended with 



