TETANUS. 63 



poison through the activity of the hydrochloric acid and not by vir- 

 tue of the pepsin. (11) Ptyalin, diastase, and emulsin have no action. 

 The effect of trypsin has not been satisfactorily determined. (12) 

 Putrefactive germs do not destroy the poison. (13) The living, but 

 not the dead, intestines of guinea-pigs and cats, destroy the poison. 



(14) The chick does not destroy and does not absorb the poison. 



(15) The poison may be eliminated by the kidneys and retain its 

 properties in the urine. (16) The poison is not a ferment. 



According to Ehrlich,^ the tetanus bacillus produces two toxins, 

 tetanospasmin and tetanolysin. To the first of these the tetanic con- 

 vulsions are due, while the second has a hemolytic action. Both of 

 these toxins are present in the precipitate formed by the addition of 

 ammonium sulphate to bouillon cultures of the tetanus bacillus, but 

 they do not always exist in the same proportion. One culture may 

 have a marked tetanic effect and manifest but little hemolytic action, 

 while a second culture may dissolve red blood corpuscles promptly 

 but show only slight action on the central nervous system. These 

 toxins also differ in their stability, the hemolytic poison being the 

 less stable and undergoing complete destruction when heated to 50° 

 for twenty minutes. When a tetanus culture is placed in a menstruum 

 containing red blood corpuscles, the greater part of the tetanolysin 

 combines with the corpuscles while the tetanospasmin remains in 

 solution ; on the other hand, tetanospasmin combines with nerve cells, 

 which apparently have no attraction for the other poison. Each oi 

 these substances has its specific antitoxin and in the blood of animals 

 immunized with tetanus cultures one or the other antitoxin may pre- 

 dominate. It thus happens that a serum may be strongly antispastic, 

 while it is but slightly antilytic, or the reverse may be true. 



Madsen ^ has made a special study of tetanolysin. He obtained a 

 mixed toxin by precipitation of a bouillon culture of the tetanus 

 bacillus with ammonium sulphate. The poison thus secured was of 

 medium strength, the fatal dose for mice of 15 grams body weight, 

 being 0.000,001 gram. This poison dissolves the red blood cor- 

 puscles of rabbits, goats, sheep, horses and other animals. The 

 blood of the horse and that of the rabbit was found to be especially 

 susceptible, while that of the goat was less so. For experimental 

 purposes the defibrinated blood of the rabbit diluted with 0.85 per 

 cent, of common salt solution to 5 per cent., was used. For pur- 

 poses of demonstration this diluted blood was placed in tall test- 

 tubes of Jena glass. This gave opportunity for the observation of 

 the effects of the toxin on the corpuscles during the process of sub- 

 sidence. To the tubes thus prepared varying quantities of the poison 

 were added, mixed, allowed to stand for one hour at 37°, and then 

 kept over night at a low temperature. The ultimate result was ob- 



' Berliner Uinische Wochenechrift, 1898, 273. 

 ^ Zeitschrififur Byffiene, 32, 214. 



