OCCURRENCE OF GALLSTONES 3G7 



suppurations due to the typhoid bacillus may be of a very 

 chronic and intractable nature. In the majority of cases other 

 organisms, especially the b. coli and the pyogenic micrococci, 

 have been obtained, the typhoid bacillus having been searched for 

 in vain. It has, moreover, been experimentally shown, notably 

 by Dmochowski and Janowski, that suppuration can be experi- 

 mentally produced by injection in animals, especially in rabbits, 

 of pure cultures of the typhoid bacillus, the occurrence of sup- 

 puration being favoured by conditions of- depressed vitality, etc. 

 These observers also found that when typhoid bacilli were 

 injected along with pyogenic staphylococci, the former died out 

 in the pus more quickly than the latter. Accordingly, in clinical 

 cases where the typhoid bacillus is present alone, it is imj irobable 

 that other organisms were present at an earlier date. 



Occurrence of Gallstones in those who have suffered from 

 Typhoid Fever. — As has been stated, foci of bacilli occur in the 

 liver in typhoid fever, and these bacilli are excreted with the 

 bile. In the gall-bladder they apparently not infrequently set 

 up a catarrhal process in the biliary ducts and gall-bladder 

 (cholecystitis typhosa), and are then in a better position for multi- 

 plication, in consequence of the presence of albuminous catarrhal 

 secretions. There is evidence that the bacilli may persist in the 

 gall-bladder for many years, and probably the catarrhal inflam- 

 mation which they keep up is responsible for many of the cases 

 of gallstones which occur — the albuminous matter produced 

 causing a deposit of the bile in a solid form. Typhoid bacilli 

 have actually been isolated from cases of gallstones operated on 

 years after an attack of typhoid fever, and the bacilli have even 

 been found within the calculi. They have also been demon- 

 strated in chronic suppurations occurring in the gall-bladder. 

 It is to be noted that gallstones are more frequently found in 

 women than in men, the proportion being about four to one, 

 and probably a considerable proportion of the total number of 

 cases of gallstones are due to the previous occurrence of typhoid 

 or paratyphoid fever. 



Pathogenic Effects produced in Animals by the Typhoid 

 Bacillus. — There is no disease of animals which is identical" 

 with typhoid, nor is there any evidence of the occurrence of 

 the typhoid bacillus under ordinary pathological conditions in 

 the bodies of animals. Attempts to communicate the disease 

 to animals by feeding them on typhoid dejecta have been 

 unsuccessful, and though pathogenic effects have been pro- 

 duced by introducing pure cultures in food, the disease has 

 usually borne no resemblance to human typhoid. The results 



