444 The Philippine Journal of Science 1923 



fluid which is alkaline, while two volumes cause complete floccu- 

 lation in a very short time when it is strongly acidified with 

 acetic acid. 



DISCUSSION 



Even in the crude form obtained by this method the precipi- 

 tated substance is much more toxic than are most preparations 

 of proteoses and peptones which ordinarily are lethal for dogs 

 only in doses of 0.5 to 1 gram per kilogram. The blood-pressure 

 reaction is also different, in that there is a more-gradual and 

 prolonged fall. In other respects the intoxication is similar to 

 that produced by the products of proteid digestion; namely, 

 salivation, vomiting, diarrhoea, and incoagulability of the blood. 



Even though this experimental collapse with its attendant 

 symptoms is produced in a very artificial manner it has, never- 

 theless, a certain resemblance to the manifestations of the more- 

 violent cases of cholera in man, as well as to those of high 

 intestinal obstruction. There is nothing specific about the 

 symptoms produced experimentally; they are common no doubt 

 as a reaction to a number of products of proteid disintegration. 

 It is, however, suggestive that a poisonous material giving such 

 a reaction is present in cholera stools. 



The conditions under which poisonous products of proteids 

 are found are those in which body proteids or bacterial proteids 

 may be rapidly broken down. Such is the situation in high 

 intestinal obstruction and in experimentally closed duodenal 

 loops. Bacteria proliferate in enormous numbers in a location 

 where normally but few occur, and in this situation are the 

 active proteolytic ferments of the body from pancreas and 

 intestinal mucosa. The conditions are certainly favorable for 

 a rapid splitting up of both body and bacterial proteids. 



It seems not altogether unwarranted to see in cholera an 

 analogous condition. In this disease there is certainly a pro- 

 lific growth of vibrios in the small intestine in its upper portions 

 as well as in its lower. They grow readily in alkaline intestinal 

 juice, where normally there are practically no bacteria. In 

 cultures, and perhaps in the intestine, they reach a maximum 

 growth in from twelve to twenty hours, after which rapid death 

 takes place. It would seem entirely possible that at this stage 

 their bodies are disintegrated by the action of proteolytic 

 enzymes with the liberation of toxic split products. 



The toxic material isolated by alcoholic precipitation may be 

 formed in this way. Although considerably diluted by intes- 



