PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 395 



pared a weak vaccine with coumarrine and a strong one 

 with gallic acid, and communicated immunity with this at- 

 tenuated virus, especially to dogs and fowls, but the immu- 

 nity never lasted more than twenty-four hours. He also 

 demonstrated that the virus became only slightly attenuated 

 after several passages through the white rat, and that the 

 seventh generation thus produced killed cavies in the usual 

 manner, and a part of the rabbits and pigeons inoculated, 

 but respected the duck, the dog, and the cat, at least it was 

 not effectual in the young subject. On the contrary, virus 

 taken from the chicken and transmitted to the rabbit showed 

 an augmented activity for the latter. 



STUDY OF THE TOXIN.— Rosenberger was the first 

 to study the septic poison. He endeavored to infect ani- 

 mals with small quantities of serum or blood taken from 

 subjects that were killed with boiled septic liquids. Boiled 

 putrefied blood should kill by simple intoxication and the 

 liquids from animals dying from its action should not possess 

 infectious properties. He proved that the boiled blood 

 killed like ordinary blood and that the organic liquids of 

 the experimental animals contained the same proto-organ- 

 isms. He remarked, however, that the dose necessary to 

 kill was greater than with the non-boiled liquid. In order to 

 kill all the micro-organisms he carried the temperatures of 

 the virulent liquids to 140 degrees and even then produced 

 death the same as with blood charged with the septic agents. 

 From these results he concludes that the vibrion owes its 

 action to the poison it elaborates, — sepsine. 



Besson, after Arloing, Roux and Chamberland, Rodet 

 and Courmont, also studied the septic poison, and proved 

 that the toxicity of cultures attains its maximum on the 

 sixth day; that in order to kill the cavy it is necessary to in- 

 ject five to ten cubic centimeters of the culture into the per- 

 itoneum ; and that the products secreted by the vibrion pos- 



