IS TETANUS CONTAGIOUS ? 
165 
of'the wound, and that the results from inoculation with blood or 
part of the spinal column of the same subject produced nega¬ 
tive results. Dr. Shakespeare, in 1887, experimented upon rab¬ 
bits with preparations of the spinal cords and brains of horses 
and mules dead of tetanus. The virus thus obtained was subcu¬ 
taneously introduced, and also injected beneath the cranial dura 
mater, after first being cultivated in agar-agar. He concludes that 
tetanus is an infectious disease, the virus located in the nervous 
system, and that it may be rendered more active by courses 
through the systems of different rabbits, but its virulence is 
diminished by the process of desiccation. His experiments also 
lead him to believe that its action is more manifest when intro¬ 
duced intracranially, than subcutaneously. 
Dr. Audry, in the Lyons Medical , gives a most instructive 
and convenient history and compilation of the results attained 
by different observers and experimentalists with the idea of ob¬ 
taining a definite conclusion from the chain of circumstances and 
facts connected with them. He especially follows the theory of 
its microbic origin, and deduces some opinions whose fixidity de¬ 
pend upon future developments. 
He says that the idea of the infectiousness of tetanus arises 
from two orders of facts; (1.) Clinical observation on mankind 
and animals, and (2), to bacteriological technique. Benjamin 
Travers appears to have been the first to clearly formulate an 
affirmation as to the infectious nature of tetanus, though, long be¬ 
fore, facts were observed which might have led to such a pre¬ 
sumption. Ambrose Pare believed it was due to the improper 
dressing of the wounds, and Lister claims he has never seen it 
follow an operation performed under his antiseptic system of 
dressing wounds. Billroth, Cooner and Socin agree with Lister 
as to its microbic origin. Other instances are cited to show that 
in locations where tetanus abounded, the death rate very materi¬ 
ally diminished upon the introduction of antisepsis. 
The experiences of St. Germain, Polaillon, and Beimboult in 
losing all of their cases of amputations by tetanus, led Verneuil 
to observe that it had its origin in their using non-disinfected in¬ 
struments, and veterinary experiences were collected by Verneuil 
