402 COMMUNICABILITY OF ASIATIC CHOLERA 
The subsidence of the epidemic put a stop to further ex- 
periments. 
From this long list of facts what conclusions can w T e draw 
as to the existence of a specific contagious substance in the 
cholera evacuations? In the first place, whenever only 
small quantities of the vomited or dejected matters can have 
come into operation, as in the contact of these with the skin, 
or with wounds in the skin, or in the inoculation experiments 
of Namias with needles, or in the mere tasting of the vomited 
fluids by M. Foy and his coadjutors, entirely negative results 
have followed. As to the last-named experiments of M. Foy 
and others, they never can be of any value, for their conse- 
quences cannot be distinguished from the effects of epidemic 
influences, and they never can be sufficiently numerous to over- 
come objections on the ground of the want of susceptibility. 
The non-occurrence of symptoms in the drunkard is not a 
fact of much importance ; and as to our own experiments on 
the effects of the filtered dejections introduced into the veins, 
though they are interesting as showing what may happen in 
such cases, it must be remembered that the phenomena pro- 
duced might be entirely dependent on simple and not specific 
poisoning. Lastly, we have to compare the cases in which 
the cholera evacutions were administered by the mouth or 
anus, by Eichstedt, Schmidt, Meyer, and ourselves, with 
each other, and with the accidental cases of Lieut. K.’s dog, 
and the dogs observed by Otto, Meyer, and Dr. Sylvain de 
Barbe. From these it certainly appears, that although when 
small quantities of the dejections were employed little or no 
effect was produced, serious consequences generally followed 
the administration of larger doses. Eichstedt refers the 
results in his experiments to a poison acting on the nervous 
system. Schmidt, who wrote, however, without a knowledge 
of Meyer’s experiments, denies the influence of the evacua- 
tions altogether. Meyer, with whom our own observations 
would lead us so far to coincide, concludes that the cholera- 
stools are capable of producing vomiting of a whitish mucus, 
and purging of a blackish or yellowish faeces ; and that these 
symptoms are sometimes followed fey death w r ith asphyxia, 
and with post-mortem appearances, very much like those ob- 
served in the cold stage of cholera among men. In some 
fatal cases, we would add, the evacuations of the animals 
experimented on have a creamy or milky character. It will 
further be seen, that although the phenomena produced are 
generally proportionate to the quantity of evacuations admi- 
nistered, such is not always the case; a discrepancy which 
Meyer suggests may depend on idiosyncrasy of the animal, 
