: BACTERIOLOGY AND THE WAR. i 
the spore or seed of the bacillus. Owing to this spore 
the tetanus germ is difficult to kill by heat or disinfectants. 
It grows only in atmospheres devoid of oxygen. Tetanus 
contains a poison which is thousands of times more deadly 
than a grain of strychnine, so that about 1/30,000 of a grain will 
kill a man. The microbe resides in the soil, particularly culti- 
vated soil which contains horse manure, for the organism is 
constantly present in the intestines of horses. Gelatine 
_ which is often made from the horse, sometimes contains the 
spores of tetanus, and fatal cases of lock-jaw have occurred 
in hospitals from the injection of improperly sterilized gelatine 
in the treatment of certain diseases. Man usually contracts 
tetanus from the contamination of cuts, scratches, etc., with 
soil. There is a popular idea that cuts on the palm of the 
hand between the first finger and thumb are specially liable 
- to give lock-jaw. This is simply because such cuts are 
- difficult to heal and are often contaminated with dirt. 
Unfortunately, in the early period of the war, tetanus 
was very common amongst our troops in Flanders, where the 
soil is highly cultivated ; several deaths occurred from it at 
Fazakerley Hospital. Within the last few months the disease 
has been almost exterminated, for every wounded soldier 
receives as soon as possible after his injury an injection of 
tetanus antitoxin, and a tally is pmned on to his coat indicating 
the amount of serum injected. In a War Office memorandum 
published last July it is stated that the results of this 
treatment have been excellent. There have only been 36 cases 
of tetanus in six months among those who received a pre- 
ventative dose of serum within 24 hours of being wounded. 
Before the treatment was instituted, numbers of cases occurred. 
This is one of the greatest of the recent achievements of 
scientific preventive medicine. If the injection of serum is 
delayed until the patient has developed tetanus it ig usually 
of no value, for certain technical reasons, 
