ANTHRAX. 53 



held for five minutes in boiling water, injected two-thirds of its con- 

 tents into the peritoneal cavity of a guinea-pig without results. 

 From this he concludes that the anthrax bacillus does not form any 

 intracellular poison. 



Bianchi-Mariotti ^ has studied the effects of the soluble constitu- 

 ents of anthrax cultures on the isotonia of the blood. He found 

 that the intravenous injection of cultures filtered through porcelain, 

 in small or medium doses, increased the isotonic properties of the 

 blood of the rabbit, but in larger doses diminished the same; fur- 

 thermore, he showed that the amount of hemoglobin is decreased 

 after the injection, in direct proportion to the quantity of the cul- 

 ture used. 



Conradi ^ has endeavored to solve the question of the existence of 

 an anthrax toxin by the following methods. 



1. The exudates which form in the peritoneal cavities of guinea- 

 pigs inoculated with anthrax, were filtered through both Kitasato 

 and Chamberland filters and injected into susceptible animals with- 

 out effect. The amount of filtered extract injected into rabbits 

 varied from 10 to 20 c.c. 



2. The livers and spleens of guinea-pigs, which had succumbed 

 to anthrax, were immediately after death rubbed up with sterilized 

 sand in a sterilized mortar, diluted with physiological salt solution, 

 filtered through porcelain and injected into white rats, guinea-pigs 

 and rabbits without effect. 



3. Collodion sacs filled with virulent anthrax cultures, were 

 placed in the abdominal cavities of susceptible animals, where they 

 remained without apparent detriment to health. This was a repe- 

 tition of similar experiments made previously by Sanarelli and 

 Pekelharing. 



4. The anthrax exudates in quantities of from 5 to 6 c.c. were 

 placed in test-tubes, J c.c. of toluol added, the tube closed with steril- 

 ized cork, thoroughly shaken, and then allowed to stand for ten days 

 in the dark at room temperature. At the expiration of this time the 

 contents of many tubes were placed in a separator and the toluol re- 

 moved. The exudate in which the germ had thus been destroyed 

 by toluol was injected into susceptible animals without effect. 



5. Having shown that asporogenic cultures are deprived of vi- 

 tality by exposure for 110 hours to — 16°, such cultures, after being 

 thus sterilized and being kept for some time in the incubator to 

 prove their sterility, were injected into susceptible animals without 

 effect. 



6. Thinking it possible that a toxin might be extracted under 

 pressure, after the method used by Buchner in obtaining a ferment 

 from yeast, cultures were exposed to hydraulic pressure of 500 at- 



' Wiener med. Presee. 1894. 

 'Zeiisehrtftf. Hygiene, 31, 237. 



