xxi] PATHOGENIC ORGANISMS 545 



die after several, three to eight, days. The eyeballs and 

 eyelids are intensely inflamed, as stated above, the skin and 

 subcutaneous tissue of- the face, neck, chest, and even 

 abdomen, are found enormously oedematous, the pericar- 

 dium, pleura, lungs, and peritoneum very much inflamed, 

 their cavities filled with a large quantity of exudation. 

 The exudations of the conjunctiva, pericardium, peri- 

 toneum, the oedematous skin and subcutaneous tissues contain 

 no infective property, and as a rule no bacilli or spores of 

 any kind, if examined in the living animal or immediately 

 after death. 



There is one point which requires careful consideration ; 

 it is this : Sattler states that he has cultivated the bacillus, 

 taken from a poisonous jequirity infusion, through several 

 successive generations on soKd material, and with the new 

 cultures he was able to produce the jequirity ophthalmia. 

 I have no doubt whatever that this is really the case, but it 

 bears an interpretation different from the one Sattler gave 

 it. Sattler, and many others, would, of course, say this : if 

 any micro-organism taken from a soil that possesses infective 

 properties be carried through many successive artificial 

 cultivations, all accidentally adhering matter would hereby 

 become so diluted that it may be considered as practically 

 lost ; that is to say, the organisms of the further generations 

 have become altogether free of that matter. If the 

 organisms of these further generations still possess the same 

 poisonous property as the original material, then we must 

 conclude that this poisonous principle is identical with the 

 micro-organism. I do not agree with this whole chain of 

 propositions although I agree with some parts. If a micro- 

 organism be carried through several successive cultivations, 

 always using for inoculation of a new culture an infinitesimal 

 dose, then, no doubt, carrying on the cultivations through 



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