394 MALIGNANT (EDEMA. 



The microscopic examination of wounds contaminated 

 by soil, etc., may, as we have said in some cases, lead to 

 the anticipation that tetanus will probably result. 



($) Cultivation. The methods to be employed in 

 isolating the tetanus bacilli have already been described 

 (p. 381). It may be added, however, that if the character- 

 istic forms are not seen on microscopic examination of the 

 material from the wound, they may often be found by 

 inoculating a deep tube of one of the glucose media with 

 such material, and incubating for forty-eight hours at 37 C. 

 At the end of this period, spore-bearing tetanus bacilli may 

 be detected microscopically, though of course mixed with 

 other organisms. 



(c] Inoculation. Mice and guinea-pigs are the most 

 suitable animals. Inoculation with the material from a 

 wound should be made subcutaneously. A loopful of the 

 discharge introduced at the root of the tail in a mouse will 

 soon give rise to the characteristic symptoms, if tetanus 

 bacilli are present. 



MALIGNANT (EDEMA (Sepficemie de Pasteur]. 



The organism now usually known as the bacillus of 

 malignant oedema is the same as that first discovered 

 by Pasteur and named vibrion septique. He described 

 its characters, distinguishing it from the anthrax bacillus 

 which it somewhat resembles morphologically, and also the 

 lesions produced by it. He found that it grew only in 

 anaerobic conditions, but was able to cultivate it merely in 

 an impure state. It was more fully studied by Koch, who 

 called it the bacillus of malignant oedema, and pointed out 

 that the disease produced by it is not really of the nature 

 of a septicaemia, as immediately after death the blood is 

 practically free from the bacilli. 



" Malignant oedema " in the human subject is usually 

 described as a spreading inflammatory oedema attended 

 with emphysema, and ultimately followed by gangrene of 



