Encyclopedia of practical medicine.

  • Nothnagel, Hermann, 1841-1905.
Date:
1901-08
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Encyclopedia of practical medicine. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    their results in other respects, have yielded no wholly conclusive results iu this connection. The iuvestiutors named were able by intravenous as well as by intraperi- toneal iuiectiou'of large amounts of pure cultures of typhoid-bacilli to cause rapidly fatal symptoms in mice, with peculiar anatomic lesions: swelling, even isolated ulceration of the follicles of the small and the large intestine to-ether with recent infiltration of the mesenteric glands, cloudy swelling of the liver and the kidneys, and considerable enlargement of the spleen. Microscopic examination disclosed also the presence of large numbers of typhoid-bacilli in the dead body and especial accumulation of thein m the spleen. Friinkel and Simmonds, however, although they considered their experiments of great significance—forming the foundation for subsequent experiments in immunity and cure—were cautious enough not to identify completely the symptoms induced with typhoid fever. It was soon found ' also that no noteworthy multiplication of the bacilli introduced into the animals took place in the living organism. In addition, it was noted that inoculation of small numbers of typhoid-bacilli did not—as in the case of other actively pathogenic micro-organisms, as, for instance, anthrax—give rise to noteworthy symptoms. Finally, the circumstance that the animals generally died before the end of the first day and earlier, but scarcely ever later than after three days, aroused suspicion that the condition was rather a direct intoxication than a true infectious disease resulting from the multi- plication and continued development of the bacilli. The certainty of the view that the condition is due to the action of toxins and not of the bacilli was established by the experiments of Sirotinin,^ Brieger, Kitasato, and Wassermann.' By boding the cultures or by elim- inating the bacteria by filtration it was possible to introduce the toxins alone into the animals, and thereby to obtain the same results as Friinkel and Simmonds. The statements of more recent observers,* that by systematic augmentation of the virulence of the bacilli they can be rendered actively pathogenic for animals—that is, their further development in the living body with the pro- duction of typical symptoms can be brought about—yet require confirma- tion. In such an event material advantage would be expected less for the etiology than for the solution of certain therapeutic problems. In none of the previously quoted experiments do any of the observers claim to have produced in animals a disease with a course resembling that seen in human typhoid. A later observer, Remlinger,^ found that by pro- longed feeding of rats and rabbits on vegetables soaked in water containing typhoid bacilli he was able to induce a continued fever lasting from ten to twelve days, accompanied by diarrhea, loss of appetite, and wasting. Four of eight rabbits experimented upon became sick; one was killed on the ' See the articles of Baumgarten, Centralblatt f. klin. Med., 1886. Wolfowicz (Baumgarten), Inaugural Dissertation, Konigsberg, 1887. Sirotinin, Zeiischr. f. Hygiene, Bd. i., 1886. Beumer and Peiper, Ibid., Bd. i. u. ii. 11. Stern, Volkmann's Samml. klin. Vortr., Neue Folge, No. 138. ' Loc. cit. 3 Zeiischr. f. Hygiene, Bd. xii. * Gilbert and Girode, Compfes rendus dc la. Societe de Biologic, 1891, No. 16. Chantemesse and Widal, Annnles de I'lnstiiut Pasteur, 1892, T. vi., No. II. Sana- relli, Ibid., T. vi. ; Ibid., T. viii. ' Ann. de I'Inst. Pa.iteur, T. xi.