36 
the combination of the unchanged toxine in any one organ. Up to 
the time when the toxine disappears and the antitoxin begins to 
appear in the blood no collection of antitoxin can be found in any 
organ. The intravenous injection of very small quantities of toxine 
into hens, quantities too small to cause harmful reactions, causes con- 
siderable antitoxin to appear. 
* The above experimental work on the affinity of the nerves for the 
toxine and the neutralization of the toxine by the nervous tissue led 
Marie and Morax,® 1902, and Meyer and Ransom, 1903, independently 
to study the method of absorption of the toxine. The paper by Marie 
and Morax was published in 1902. They find that the absorption of 
tetanus toxine by the peripheral nerves is in consequence of the specific 
affinity for the axis cylinder substance. This affinity is not shown in 
experiments in vitro, contrary to those which are observed with the 
cord or with the brain, but is shown with the greatest ease by experi- 
ments in vivo. Fixation of the’ toxine upon the nerves occurs very 
rapidly. It has the characteristic of not being very stable. 
They showed that the toxine once fixed, is displaced centripetally 
with a relatively feeble rapidity. This axis cylinder circulation has 
for its effect the transportation of the diluted toxine in the fluids to the 
ganglionic cells. The authors believe that they are able to formulate 
the following hypothesis : Injected into a muscle or into a region a 
little removed from a muscular mass, the toxine distributes itself in 
the serous fluid which impregnates the tissues, and passes in part to 
the blood, where it can be found very soon. In the zone of inoculation 
the serous fluid charged with the toxine is found in contact with ex- 
pansions of the nerves at their endings. The motor nerves as well as 
‘the vaso-motor nerves absorb it and transfer it, so that in a relatively 
short time the substance of the peripheral nerves contains it in quan- 
tity larger than the fluids which bathe the tissues at some distance 
from the point of absorption. Diffusion of the toxine occurs cen- 
tripetally. It maybe compared to the absorption of nourishing liquids 
by the roots of a plant. The portion of toxine contained^in the lymph 
at the point of contact remains twenty-four hours or less. This 
amount is greater than the portion contained in the blood, and conse- 
quently in the lymph in different parts of the body. Absorption by 
the nerve fibers at the region inoculated is then greater during the first 
twenty-four hours than that which takes place in other regions. The 
corresponding motor nerves will be, consequently, the first saturated 
by the toxine, and this saturation will be manifested by a localized 
coiltraction or by a local tetanus. However, in other regions the ter- 
' minations of the nerves will absorb a certain quantity of toxine carried 
to them by the lymph. It is then that local tetanus will be succeeded 
“Marie, A., and Morax, V.: Reclierches sur I’absorption de la toxine tetanique. 
Ann. Inst. Pasteur, vol. 18, 1902, p. 818-832. 
