102 



Scientific Proceedings (33). 



out and five to ten cubic centimeters of saliva can thus be obtained 

 after giving the dog i/ioo gr. of pilocarpine subcutaneously. 

 None of the cultures made from the saliva showed Bacillus pro- 

 digiosus ; however, I do not believe that this route is absolutely 

 excluded. 



One clinical test was made. A "typhoid-carrier" who is 

 known to have had typhoid bacilli in her stools for some years, 

 at times almost in pure culture, but at present in the ratio of about 

 ten per cent, of the total number of faecal bacteria, was submitted 

 to an examination. If the bacteria ascend from the intestine then 

 typhoid bacilli should be found in her stomach. This patient was 

 starved for eight hours ; at the end of the period her mouth was 

 washed with sterile salt solution, and the washings tested for 

 typhoid bacilli. Her stomach, which was found to be empty 

 after this period, was accordingly washed out and the washings, 

 which were of neutral reaction, likewise plated on Conradi-Dri- 

 galski media. Neither of these fluids was found to contain 

 typhoid bacilli, nor indeed colon bacilli. 



From these experiments I conclude that bacteria injected by 

 way of the rectum into rabbits are not carried in a viable state 

 above the small intestine, and that they do not enter the respira- 

 tory tract by this route. In fact their presence in the small in- 

 testine may at times be due not to antiperistalsis, but to excretion 

 from the blood or the bile. Furthermore; where experiment has 

 showed them to be present in the lungs, the trachea and the 

 oesophagus, they have entered these organs by way of the blood 

 stream. 



50 (388) 



The action of soaps on the pneumococcus. 

 By SIMON FLEXNER and RICHARD V. LAMAR. 



\From the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, New York^ 



The object of the study to be reported briefly is the ascertain- 

 ing of the manner in which the pneumococcus is disposed of in the 

 body of infected animals that recover. The animal experiments 

 were made on full grown rats. A strain of pneumococcus fatal to 

 them in i / 10,000 of a cubic centimeter of a twenty-four hour 

 bouillon culture was employed. Strong solutions (i to 5 per cent.) 



