18 



Gee and Massey (17) give an interesting account of Aspergilliis 

 fiimigatus infecting Malacosoma thereby finding its way through the 

 intestine into the body cavity. It would, however, be unwise to 

 draw a parallel between the intestinal wall of a lepidopterous larva 

 and that of liiglier animals. 



The theory of the destructive properties of pathogenic moulds 

 has, however, undergone a marked change in recent years. It was 

 formerly supposed that mechanical irritation, stoppage of the blood 

 vessels by spores, etc. were the only causes of mycotic disturbances. 

 Since Geni (6 — 11) and Bestå (6) succeeded in isolating virulent 

 toxins from a number of moulds, it has become more and more 

 apparent that the extensive alteralions noticed in the tissues attacked 

 by pathogenic moulds are due to a great extent to such toxins. 

 The authors just mentioned injected extractions from spores and 

 mycelium of Aspergillus fumigatus, A. flaviis, A. niger, A. ochraceiis, 

 and of several strains of Penicilliiim glaiiciim intraperitoneally, 

 subcutaneously, and intravenouslj^ in animals and found that death 

 very often resulted, preceded by spasmatic paresis and ataxia, 

 sometimes accompanied by tetanic and epileptic convulsions. 

 Feeding with Aspergillus fumigatus also led to the death of the 

 animals. On account of striking symptomatic similarities of the 

 disease caused by injecting or feeding animals with toxic moulds 

 and pellagra, these workers assume an etiological connection between 

 the eating of mouldy foodstuffs and this affliction, which is so 

 prevalent in Italy and other countries where the food of the working 

 classes mainly consists of maize and other grain. 



Of subsequent workers in this tield Otto (46) corroborates most 

 of the conclusions of Geni and Bestå, calling special attention to 

 one of the most striking points brought out by the work of Gem, 

 namely, that while during spring, summer, and early fall toxins of 

 the most virulent kind are produced, little or no toxin appears in 

 the winter months even if the moulds are kept in incubator. He 

 also fmds the Italian strains of Aspergillus fumigatus more toxic 

 than the German. On one mportant point the results obtained by 

 Otto differ from those by Geni. No toxic effect was noticed when 

 spores of the Italian Aspergillus fumigatus were fed to rabbits. Zippel 

 (72), as far back as 1894, fed large quantities of >>Penicillium glaucum» 

 to a number of animals and came to the conclusion that moulds 

 taken in with the food were absolutely harmless. On the other 

 hand, numerous cases of forage poisoning in cattle, known to 



