XV] ANAEROBIC BACILLI 379 



being in whom tetanus had set in. Purulent ■ exudation 

 was taken in these rabbits from the place of inoculation and 

 transferred to fresh rabbits, and here typical tetanus was 

 again produced. In human tetanus the place of infection 

 (in the skin of the hand, foot, or other part, by a tainted 

 splinter, earth, oj: other material) becomes marked as a 

 purulent inflammation leading to ulceration ; the tissue 

 surrounding the ulceration is much infiltrated, and there is 

 always heemorrhage in it. After death the membranes of 

 the brain and cord are found much injected, and so also the 

 grey matter of the medulla and cord ; occasionally there is 

 a slight accumulation of red and white blood-corpuscles 

 around the vessels. 



Nicolaier {Inaugural Diss., Gottingen, 1885) made the 

 important discovery that earth taken from superficial layers 

 of the soil is often capable of producing, when inoculated 

 into the subcutaneous tissue of the mouse, rabbit, or guinea- 

 pig, a local suppuration and haemorrhagic effusion about the 

 seat of inoculation, rapidly followed by typical tetanus and 

 death. In that earth and in the pus and exudation of the 

 seat of inoculation he demonstrated the constant presence 

 of fine, straight " drumstick " bacilli, which he considered 

 as the tetanus bacilli. The purulent matter containing these 

 bacilli, inoculated into fresh mice, rabbits, or guinea-pigs 

 again produces tetanus. Rosenbach [Archiv f. klin. 

 Chirurgie, Band xxxiv., 1886) showed that the same bacilli 

 exist in the exudation at the place of infection in human 

 tetanus. Hochsinger, Beumer and Peiper, Bonone, Shake- 

 speare, Raun, and many others have confirmed the existence 

 of these bacilli in tetanus, but no one of these succeeded in 

 cultivating them in pure cultivations. Though numerous 

 cultivations have been established, and tetanus been pro- 

 duced in animals with them by the aid of foreign bodies^ 



