452 PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 



the transfusion of the blood of a tetanic dog to a healthy one 

 may now and then cause slight tetanic spasms, that the wat- 

 ery extract of tetanic muscles injected into the froa^ strych- 

 nizes it, and that the urine of tetanic animals is very produc- 

 tive of convulsions. This substance has been found by 

 Buschke and CErgel, and by Blumenthal and Tanher, but has 

 been sought for in vain by Brunner, Ouchinsky and Marie. It 

 is therefore inconstant, and cannot be taken into account in 

 the general pathogenesis of tetanus. 



The German theories sustained by Ehrlich, Wasserman 

 and Blumenthal are also "chemical theories" closely ap- 

 proaching the preceding. They hold, that the toxin is com- 

 bined with the nerve-cell protoplasm to produce a new sub- 

 stance that does not diffuse through the liquids of the body, 

 but remains intracellular. It is therefore useless to search 

 for it in the liquids of the body or in emulsions of organs. 

 According to some authors it might diffuse at times and 

 lodge elsewhere in the cells of diseased organs. AVasser- 

 man's experiment is the basis for all of these theories. They 

 vary more or less according to the authors who have upheld 

 them. It is held that the cells of the nerve centers of nor- 

 mal animals contain an antitetanic substance, — a preformed 

 antitoxin, — that is similar to the blood of animals vaccinated 

 against tetanus. Then, in the cases of tetanus there would 

 be a saturation of the cellular antitoxin by the toxin, and the 

 production of new substances ; but notice, in order, the dif- 

 ference in the mode of action of brain emulsion and the anti- 

 tetanic serum. The second is preventive, while the first re- 

 quires mixture "in vitro." And besides, there is no de- 

 struction of the toxin, since Danysz separated it from the 

 emulsion by maceration. 



According to certain authors, the new substance remains 

 intracellular, while others hold that it may diffuse and be 

 again found in the organs and the liquids of the body. Ac- 



