440 ANAEROBES IN INFECTED WOUNDS 



alimentary canal ; it is only after or immediately before death 

 that a few bacilli may enter the tissues. Van Ermengeni 

 obtained a few colonies from the spleen of a patient who had 

 died from ham-poisoning. The properties of the botulinus toxin 

 have been investigated, and have been found to correspond 

 closely, as regards relative instability, conditions of precipita'tion, 

 combination with sensitive cells (i.e., of brain and cord), etc., 

 with the toxins of diphtheria and tetanus. An a"ntitoxin 

 was prepared by Kempner by the usual methods, and was 

 shown not only to have a neutralising property! but to 

 have considerable therapeutical value when administered some 

 hours after the toxin. The subject was studied by Leuchs, 

 and he found that the combination toxin-antitoxin can be 

 split up by the action of acids and the two components 

 recovered, just as Morgenroth showed to occur in the case of 

 diphtheria (p. 565). The direct combining affinity of the toxin 

 for the central nervous system was demonstrated by Kempner 

 and Schepilewsky by the same methods as Wassermann and 

 Takaki employed in the case of the tetanus toxin. The condition 

 of the nerve cells in experimental poisoning with the botulinus 

 toxin has been investigated independently by Marinesco and by 

 Kempner and Pollack, and these observers agree as to the occur- 

 rence of marked degenerative changes, especially in the motor cells 

 in the spinal cord and medulla. Marinesco also observed hyper- 

 trophy and proliferation of the neuroglia cells around them. 



These observations, therefore, show that in one variety of 

 meat-poisoning the symptoms are produced by the absorption of 

 the toxins of the bacillus botulinus from the alimentary canal, 

 and, as van Ermengem points out, it is of special importance to 

 note that the meat may be extensively contaminated with this 

 bacillus, and may contain relatively large quantities of its toxins 

 without the ordinary signs of decomposition being present. 

 The production of an extracellular toxin by this organism, with 

 extremely potent action on the nervous system, is a fact of great 

 scientific interest, and has a bearing on the etiology of other 

 obscure nervous affections. 



Anaerobes in Infected Wounds. 



It may be said that practically all such anaerobes come from 

 the soil and that their original source is chiefly aniinal feces. 

 All cultivated soils are accordingly rich in such organisms. In 

 the case of lacerated wounds contaminated by soil, and especially 

 in gunshot wounds, we have thus two main factors, the presence of 



