Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Sept.,  1889. 
Disinfection  in  Medicine. 
485 
Each  witness,  therefore,  unconsciously  strengthens  the  testimony 
of  all  the  others,  and  thus  renders  it  probable  that  the  principle 
is  a  sound  one,  for,  if  one  were  mistaken,  it  is  not  likely  that  all 
would  be. 
"  The  first  work  that  I  will  briefly  mention  is  that  of  Dr.  Cash, 
and  I  will  relate  one  or  two  of  his  experiments,  which  fairly  illustrate 
my  meaning,  in  his  own  words : 
"'A  large  rabbit,  weighing  3,010  grams,  received  hypodermically 
in  the  course  of  seventeen  days  a  total  of  *0125  gram  of  corrosive 
sublimate7  (about  J  grain  in  the  seventeen  days,  or  tIf  grain  per  day). 
'It  was  then  inoculated  with  fresh  anthrax  blood  of  a  guinea-pig, 
which  had  succumbed  to  the  disease  in  40  hours.  .  .  A  second 
unprotected  animal  was  inoculated  at  the  same  time,  and  died  of  typi- 
cal anthrax  on  the  evening  of  the  third  day.' 
"The  protected  animal  had  only  a  moderate  rise  of  temperature. 
It  lived,  and  was  re-inoculated  more  than  four  months  after  the  first 
inoculation  without  injury,  a  control  animal  submitted  to  a  similar 
inoculation  rapidly  dying. 
"  Another  protected  rabbit  was  inoculated  with  the  fresh  blood  of  a 
guinea-pig  dead  of  anthrax,  and  on  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  days 
after  the  inoculation  its  own  blood  was  carefully  examined,  and  on  the 
two  latter  days  unprotected  guinea-pigs  were  inoculated  with  it.  Both 
experiments  were  negative.  No  bacilli  were  found  from  the  examina- 
tion, and  the  guinea-pigs  were  unaffected.1  Would  not  these  experi- 
ments, even  if  they  stood  alone,  be  sufficient  to  stimulate  inquiry  and 
excite  hope?  They  do  not  stand  alone,  yet  the  necessity  of  continued 
inquiry  is  shown  by  the  next  chapter  in  this  history.  It  is  that  con- 
tributed by  Dr.  Klein.2  Adopting  a  different  method,  he  found  the 
bacilli  of  anthrax  would  have  their  virulence  so  diminished  by  being 
grown  in  medicated  culture  media  containing  proportions  of  corrosive 
sublimate  varying  in  amount  according  to  the  proved  virulence  of  the 
bacilli,  their  spore-containing  or  sporeless  character,  etc.,  as  to  be  cap- 
able of  injection  into  different  animals  without  ill  effects.  But  he 
found  that  what  would  destroy  the  virulence  of  bacilli  of  one  disease 
would  not  impair  that  of  those  of  another,  so  that  the  chemical  an- 
tagonizes of  each  must  be  sought  by  actual  experiment. 
"Facts  of  this  kind  cannot  fail  to  engender  hopes  that  we  may  one 
1  Thirteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Local  Government  Board. 
2  Ibid.,  p.  156,  et  seq. 
