126 BACTERIAL POISONS. 



the bacteria consisted of filtration through a Chamberland 

 filter. The germ-free filtrate could be heated to 50° with- 

 out loss of toxicity, while a temperature of 60° rendered 

 it inert. In the majority of the experiments the filtration 

 method was used and in this way a large quantity of a 

 poisonous fluid of uniform strensrth was obtained. 



Varying; amounts of this fluid were used upon animals, 

 mostly guinea-pigs and rabbits, and it was found that the 

 effects varied with the quantities employed and the methods 

 of administration. The symptoms appeared most promptly 

 when the injections were made directly into a bloodvessel. 

 Of four rabbits which were given subcutaneously respec- 

 tively 1, 2|, 5, and 10 c.c. of the filtrate on December the 

 28th, the first died January 4th ; the second, January 2d ; 

 the third, December 31st ; and the fourth, December 30th. 

 In all cases in which death did not occur too early, paralysis 

 appeared. The limbs were first paralyzed, and this was 

 true whether the fluid was administered intravenously or 

 subcutaneously. The post-mortem appearances were iden- 

 tical with those observed after inoculation with the bacillus, 

 with the exception of the absence of the pseudo-membrane. 

 After subcutaneous iniection there was a gelatinous, grayish- 

 Avhite, sometimes reddish, oedematous fluid formed at the 

 point of iniection ; and, after larger doses, necrosis. In 

 cases in which death was delayed, there were efiusions in 

 the pleura, fatty degeneration of the liver, and inflamma- 

 tion of the kidneys. Especially marked were these cellular 

 changes in rabbits which were treated Avith small amounts 

 intravenously. 



Brieger and Fraxkbi. conclude this part of their 

 report with the following statement : " We have shown 

 that the LQffler diphtheria bacillus produces in its cul- 

 tures a poisonous, soluble substance, separable from the 

 bacteria, which causes in susceptible animals the same 

 phenomena which are induced by inoculation with the 

 living microorganism. "We have further shown that this 

 substance is destroyed by a temperature over 60°, but that 

 it can be heated to 50°, even'in the presence of an excess 

 of hydrochloric acid, without being destroyed. This last 



