2 5 2 TUBE R C UL OS IS. 



also found an albumose not previously described, and which 

 he named acro-albumose. He observed, however, that the 

 same constituents were present when uninoculated glycerine 

 bouillon was incubated. The relative proportions present 

 in cultures varied, but both in this experiment and in others 

 performed with solutions containing the higher albumoses 

 in a pure condition, Kiihne found that after the tubercle 

 bacillus had been growing, there appeared a larger propor- 

 tion of the lower albumoses, i.e., those formed just prelimin- 

 ary to the production of peptone. This indicates that the 

 bacillus has a digestive action on albumin. Whether the 

 albumoses thus formed are the toxic bodies in tuberculin is 

 doubtful. Kiihne found that all the varieties he isolated 

 gave a tuberculin reaction to tubercular guinea-pigs, so that 

 they might all simply be carriers of the real toxine. This 

 view he corroborated by a further experiment. Tubercle 

 bacilli were grown in a glycerine medium which contained 

 leucin, tyrosin, asparagin, etc., instead of peptone. Thus 

 no proteid matter was present. The fluid after culture was 

 analysed as before and no albumoses or peptones were 

 found to be present, but only an albuminate. It neverthe- 

 less had the same effect on tubercular animals as tuberculin. 

 The toxines of tubercle are thus possibly not of the nature 

 of albumoses. Of their real nature we are still ignorant. 

 From what is known, it is possible that they do not to any 

 great extent diffuse out into the culture media. It has been 

 found that if tubercle cultures are filtered germ-free the 

 filtrate does not give such a marked tuberculin reaction as 

 the unfiltered fluid. Maragliano has found that such a fluid, 

 however, causes in animals lowering of temperature and 

 sweating, and further that if it is heated at 100 C. it now 

 gives a much more marked tuberculin reaction. From this 

 he infers that there is diffused out into the culture fluid a 

 body allied to the toxalbumins of Brieger and Fraenkel, 

 which is destroyed by heat, and which has a temperature- 

 lowering action. When this body is destroyed in a tubercle 

 filtrate, any intracellular poison which may be present from 

 the maceration of the bodies of the dead bacilli always 



