b8 BACTERIAL POISONS OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 



in tetanus are supposed to be referable to the action of the toxin on 

 the cord rather than on the brain. These experiments were repeated 

 with brain and cord substance obtained from pigeons, rabbits, horses, 

 and men with practically the same results in all instances. By means 

 of the centrifuge, the brain emulsion with the toxin was separated 

 into a deposit and a clear supernatant fluid, and it was demonstrated 

 by this means that the combined toxin and brain substance was to 

 be found in the deposit. In other words, it was shown that the 

 supernatant fluid had no antitoxic action. The same was found to 

 be true of fluids obtained from the ventricles of the brain. These 

 experiments seem to demonstrate that chemical combination takes 

 place between the toxins introduced into the body and the formed 

 cells, and that solution of both substances entering into the compound 

 is not essential. 



B.OUX and Borrel, ' have demonstrated by a series of carefully con- 

 ducted experiments that small doses of tetanus toxin when injected 

 directly into the brain substance kill animals, while much larger 

 quantities of the same poison are required when the injection is made 

 subcutaneously or intravenously. This undoubtedly is due to the 

 fact that when intracerebral injection is made, all of the toxin im- 

 mediately combines with the side chains of the brain cells, inflicting 

 upon this tissue an injury to which the animal speedily succumbs. 



According to Ledantec, the poisonous arrows of the natives of the 

 New Hebrides are prepared as follows : The points, which are usu- 

 ally made from human bones, are first covered with a vegetable resin, 

 then smeared with the slime of swampy places. 



Eoncali has tested forty different germs, some of them pathogenic 

 and others non-pathogenic, in endeavoring to find one which would 

 neutralize, either by its growth in the body or by the action of its 

 products, the tetanus poison. His results were wholly negative. 

 The tetanus poison was found to act more energetically in animals 

 inoculated with other bacteria or treated with their products, and in 

 no case was there any evidence of antagonism in action. 



Diphtheria. — In 1887, Loeffler attempted to ascertain the nature 

 of the diphtheria toxin. A flask of bouillon containing pepton and 

 grape sugar was, three days after it had been inoculated with the 

 bacillus, evaporated to 10 c.c. and this was injected into an animal, 

 but was without effect. A second flask of the same material was 

 extracted with ether, but this extract was also found to be inert. 

 Next, some neutral beef broth was extracted with glycerin four or 

 five days after it had been inoculated with the bacillus. The glycerin 

 extract, when treated with five times its volume of absolute alcohol, 

 deposited a voluminous, flocculent precipitate, which was collected, 

 washed with alcohol, dried and dissolved in water. Further precip- 

 > Annaks de VInstitut PaMeur, 12, 1898. 



