BACTERIA IN THE SOIL 1 69 



to the spasms which characterise the disease. Suppuration 

 generally occurs in the wound, and in the pus thus produced 

 may be found a great variety of bacteria, as well as the 

 specific agent itself. After a few days or, it may be, as 

 much as a fortnight, when the primary wound may be 

 almost forgotten, general symptoms occur. Their appear- 

 ance is often the first sign of the disease. Stiffness of the 

 neck and facial muscles, including the muscles of the jaw, 

 is the most prominent sign. This is rapidly followed by 

 spasms and local convulsions, which, when affecting the re- 

 spiratory or alimentary tract, may cause a fatal result. 

 Fever and increased rate of pulse and respiration are further 

 signs of the disease becoming general. After death, which 

 results in the majority of cases, there is very little to show 

 the cause of fatality. The wound is observable, and patches 

 of congestion may be found on different parts of the nervous 

 system, particularly the medulla (grey matter), pons, and 

 even cerebellum. Evidence has recently been forthcoming 

 at the Pasteur Institute to support the theory that tetanus 

 is a nervous disease, more or less allied to rabies, and is best 

 treated by intra-cerebral injection of antitoxin, which then 

 has an opportunity of opposing the toxins at their favourite 

 site. (Roux and Borrel.) 



In the wound the bacillus is present in large numbers, 

 but mixed up with a great variety of suppurative bacteria 

 and extraneous organisms. It is in the form of a straight 

 short rod with rounded ends, occurring singly or in pairs of 

 threads, and slightly motile. It has been pointed out that 

 by special methods of staining, flagella may be demon- 

 strated.' These are both lateral and terminal, thin and 

 thick, and are shed previously to sporulation. Branching 

 also has been described. Indeed, it would appear that, 

 like the bacillus of tubercle, this organism has various pleo- 

 morphic forms. Next to the ordinary bacillus, filamentous 



^ Lehmann and Neumann, p. 305. 



