TUBERCLE BACILLUS 
473 
from human cultures consequently is acid in reaction, while that pre- 
pared from bovine cultures is alkaline. The organism liberates a 
moderate amount of ammonia incidental to its metabolism of proteins 
or amino-acids.^ Old cultures of tubercle bacilli occasionally are very 
gelatinous.'- ^'au<l:;han,•'' White and Avery*, and White, ^ using the 
method of \'aughan, have isolated a non-specific poisonous substance 
from fat-free tubercle bacilli which kills guinea-pigs with symptoms 
typical of anaphylaxis. The mineral constituents of tubercle bacilli 
have been determined by deSchweinitz and Dorset.*^ 
Toxins.— The tubercle bacillus appears to elaborate both an endo- 
toxin and an extracellular toxin. '^ The endotoxin causes necrosis, 
caseous degeneration and general cachexia and stimulates tubercle 
formation. The extracellular toxin causes fever and the acute inflam- 
matory reaction observed around tubercles and tuberculous tissue 
in tuberculous animals. Little or no effect is produced in healthy 
animals except emaciation. The toxins liberated by the tubercle bacil- 
lus are apparently on the whole rather mild, because they ijroduce as 
a rule only local lesions. This would indicate that the diffusion 
of toxin is somewhat limited. Furthermore, the kidneys do not ordi- 
narily exhibit anatomical changes which could be definitely ascribed 
to the elimination of a tuberculous toxin through them. Wliether 
the cachexia, which is a prominent feature of advanced cases of tuber- 
culosis, is to be regarded as a purely toxic phenomenon is not clear. 
Holmes^ has suggested that the fatty acids of the tubercle bacillus 
cause a lymphocytosis. 
Auclair and Paris^ have summarized the various products obtain- 
able from the tubercle bacillus as follows: 
Group I 
Soluble toxins 
Group II 
Lipoids . 
Group III 
Protoplasmic toxins 
Method of 
extraction. 
Water 
Normal salt 
Alcohol 
Chloroform 
Neutral salts 
Alkaline solution 
of 
Chemical 
properties. 
Albumose; albumi: 
Globulin ; traces 
nucleoprotein 
Fatty acids; alka- 
loids; lecithin 
Neutral fats; lecithin; 
cholesterin 
Cholesterin; waxes 
Paranuclein 
Albumins. 
Bacillo casein 
Biological 
properties. 
Not definitely known. 
Not definitely known. 
Action chiefly local. 
Calcification and scler- 
osis. 
Local action and 
sclerosis. 
Local action; visceral 
nodosities and gran- 
ulations. 
General action: con- 
gestion, hematopoi- 
etic disturbances; 
cachexia; death. 
Jour. Infec. Dis., 1914, 15, 417, 423, 428, 43.3; 1920, 
1 Kendall, Day and Walker: 
26, 45, 77. 
2 Weleminsky: Berl. klin. Wchnschr., 1912, 49, 1320. Gotzl: Wien. klin. Wchnschr., 
1913, 26, 1614. Kendall, Day and Walker: Jour. Infec. Dis., 1914, 15, 428. 
3 Protein Split Products, 1913. < jour. Med. Res., 1912, 26, 317. 
5 Trans. Ninth Ann. Meet. Nat'l Assn. Study and Preven. Tuberculosis. 
« Jour. Am. Chem. Assn., 1898, 20, 618. 
• Armand-Delille: Monographies Cliniques en Medicine, etc., 1911, No. 61, Paris. 
s Guy's Hospital Reports, 1909, 59, 155. 
9 Calmette: L'Infection Bacillaire et la Tuberculose, Paris, 1920, p. 70. 
