MYCOTIC OR INFECTIOUS GASTEO-ENTEBITIS. 



205 



brine. We see a diarrhea appearing suddenly, and almost always 

 becoming bloody ; there are vomitings, the thirst is great, and the 

 fever intense (40° to 42° C), the weakness is extreme. Death, 

 which is almost the constant termination of the affection, occurs 

 more or less rapidly, sometimes within a few hours, mostly in less 

 than a day. 



These are exactly the symptoms observed by Panum in the dog 

 after an intravenous injection of the poisons (0.012 gramme) ex- 

 tracted from decomposed meat. At the autopsy of these subjects of 

 experiment he has found lesions of hemorrhagic enteritis, and has 

 noticed a very rapid decomposition of the cadavers.^ Susceptibility 

 to the mycotic poison varies greatly in the different carnivorous 

 animals. Experimental results related by various authors testify 

 to that effect. Semmer has made dogs and cats eat the meat of a 

 horse that had died from septicemia, without producing any trouble 

 in these animals, but three pigs died after the ingestion of the same 

 meat. Colin has seen slight diarrheas in similar experiments. 

 Lemke produced a very serious diarrhea in three young dogs, to 

 which he gave meat tainted by anthrax, while an older dog did not 

 show any marked discomfort. 



Pathological anatomy. The contents of the stomach and in- 

 testines are composed of fetid meat partially digested ; the mucous 

 membrane is inflamed, both the solitary and the agminated follicles 

 as well as the mesenteric ganglions, are tumefied ; the intestinal 

 contents are bloody, of a chocolate color and of a semi-liquid con- 

 sistence. The blood is greatly altered ; the liver is obstructed and 

 it is soon affected by putrid decomposition ; the spleen is tumefied 

 and filled with hemorrhagic points ; the myocardium is very friable. 

 Siedamgrotzky has found small immobile bacteria in the blood, 

 which were distinguished from the bacteridia by their greater 

 diameter and the absence of spores. 



In man, the accidents of poison through meat and sausages have 

 long been considered to be of similar nature to anthrax ; therefore, 

 the expressions intestinal mycosis'^ and intestinal anthrax" 

 have been used indiscriminately, but Bollinger has shown that 

 these accidents are septic inflammations of the intestinal mucous 

 membrane, due to mycotic poisons. We must distinguish between 

 those poisons which are ectogenous or formed post-mortem, and 

 those which are endogenous or formed intra vitam. 



1 Panum : Virchow's Archiv, Bd. ix. 



