530 Major W. J. Tulloch. Serological Types of B. tetani in 



These preliminary inquiries also resulted in the differentiation of three 

 serological Types of B. tetani (1) and (2). The demonstration of these Types 

 raised the following questions : — 



(i) Does the administration of anti-toxin corresponding to one Type confer 

 immunity against all Types ? 



(ii) If this be the case, is the immunity so conferred more adequate against 

 homologous bacilli than against serologically heterologous bacilli ? 



These questions will be dealt with under the following headings : — 



Section I. — Inquiry into the prevalence of the various Types of £. tetani in 

 wound exudates of cases of declared tetanus, together with a corresponding- 

 investigation of wounds of men showing no evidence of tetanus. 



Evidence of geographical distribution of types of tetanus bacilli. 



Section II. — Examination of the mechanism of infection in tetanus as 

 distinct from the mechanism of intoxication. 



Section III. — Serum prophylaxis in experimental animals from the stand- 

 point of infection. 



Section IV. — Inquiry as to whether 



(a) Monotypical anti-toxin exhibits specific anti-infective properties. 

 {b) Inoculations of cultures of B. tetani give rise to anti-bacterial bodies 

 specific to the type of organisms used. 



Section I. 



(A) Prevalence of the Different Types of B. tetani in W ound Exudates frorn 

 Declared Cases of the Disease as Differentiated hy the Agglutination Method. 



(B) Prevalence of the Different I'ypes of B. tetani in Wounds of Men shoioing 



no Evidence of Tetanus Differentiated as iii (A). 



A. Attention must be drawn to the fact that the cultures used in the 

 preparation of sera employed in these investigations were subjected to very 

 critical scrutiny before they were used as " Type Strains." They were 

 purified with extreme care, the final " isolation " being effected by Barber's 

 micro-inoculation method (3). I might here point out that over a period of 

 at least 20 months the stock cultures have remained consistently true to 

 Type, and that even with sera having a titreof more than 1/3000 the aggluti- 

 nation reactions have remained specific. 



In the early stages of the investigation it was found that all the strains of 

 B. tetani obtained from the various Serum Institutions in this country agglu- 

 tinated with the serum prepared against U.S.A. standard strain. This strain 

 will hereafter be referred to as " Type I." It was therefore of paramount 



