lOO 



SciENTiFrc Proceedings (33). 



imental studies on tuberculosis, but also in the prophylaxis against 

 infectious diseases ; more especially in the disinfection in cases of 

 cholera and typhoid fever, where the sputum may in this way be 

 contaminated. 



The experimental facts claimed are : When Bacillus prodigiosus, 

 tubercle baciUi or other bacteria are suspended in from 10 to 20 

 c.c. of salt solution and are injected by rectum into an adult rabbit, 

 they may be recovered by culture or animal inoculation an hour 

 later from the small intestine, stomach, oesophagus, trachea, lungs 

 and other organs. These results are interpreted as proving con- 

 clusively that these bacteria, after traversing the gastro-intestinal 

 tract, have entered the trachea and lungs, and thence have been 

 transported throughout the body. 



The technique previously employed was, in brief, to keep the 

 animal securely fastened following the injection, so that he could 

 not lick himself, to kill him after a variable period, and then under 

 the strictest asepsis to make numerous cultures from the contents 

 of the alimentary tract, from the macerated organs, and from the 

 heart's blood. 



It appeared that the foregoing facts could, for the most part, 

 be conceded, and nevertheless be open to quite a different interpre- 

 tation. With this question in view I undertook the following 

 series of experiments. 



The technique which I made use of differs in two respects from 

 that used by others : (a) Large amounts of blood obtained for 

 examination were drawn from the ear vein or jugular vein, previous 

 to pithing the animal ; {B) care was taken to avoid contact with 

 blood in the cultures made from the hollow viscera. In addition 

 it was found necessary to introduce other experiments. 



The following is a summary of my results : 



Of four experiments in which the animals were killed within 

 three hours of the rectal injection, in three bacteria were not pres- 

 ent above the ileo-caecal valve ; in one they were obtained in the 

 small intestine after seventy minutes ; in no instance could they be 

 cultivated from the stomach or oesophagus. 



Furthermore of four other experiments where twenty-four 

 hours was allowed to elapse before killing the animal, in one the 

 tubercle bacillus was demonstrated by means of inoculation to be 



