SERUM THERAPY 



95 



' 



the toxin is completely neutralized. Although 

 the toxin is carried in the blood stream, a large 

 amount of it is taken up by the nerve endings 

 near the infected tissue and makes its way along 



the nerves to the mo- 

 tor cells of the spinal 

 cord and brain. Not 

 until the action of the 

 toxin on the nerve tis- 

 sue has already been 

 exerted and patho- 

 logic effects pro- 

 duced, do symptoms 

 of tetanus appear. 



Wounds Tetanus 

 may be regarded al- 

 most solely as a wound complication, but all 

 wounds are not liable to this complication even 

 though tetanus spores be present. Punctured, 

 lacerated and contused wounds are more sus- 

 ceptible than clean-cut or superficial wounds. 

 In the investigations of Andres and Morgan, 

 it was found that the majority of cases occurred 

 from severe contusions with penetration of for- 

 eign bodies. These researches also corrobo- 

 rated the accepted view that the common sites 



Bacillus tetani with 



spores in distended ends. 



X 1,100 diameters. 



