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3 19
ANTHONY VAN LEEUWENHOEK
Who first saw bacteria
THE FUNDAMENTALS
OF
BACTERIOLOGY
BY
CHARLES BRADFIELD MORREY, B.A., M.D.
PROFESSOR OF BACTERIOLOGY AND HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT IN THE OHIO
STATE UNIVERSITY, COLUMBUS, OHIO
ILLUSTRATED WITH 165 ENGRAVINGS AND 6 PLATES
LEA & FEBIGER
PHILADELPHIA oor NEW YORK
OR
4 | Na, 5594
N87 7
CoryYyricut
LEA & FEBIGER
1917
mors
TO
GRACE HAMILTON MORREY
AMERICAN PIANIST
PREFACE.
AN experience of nearly twenty years in the teaching of
Bacteriology has convinced the author that students of this
subject need a comprehensive grasp of the entire field and
special training in fundamental technic before specializing
in any particular line of work. Courses at the, University
are arranged on this basis. One semester is devoted to
General Bacteriology. During the second semester the
student has a choice of special work in Pathogenic, Dairy,
Soil, Water, or Chemical Bacteriology. A second year
may be devoted to advanced work in any of the above
lines, to Immunity and Serum Therapy, or to Pathogenic
Protozoa.
This text-book is intended to cover the first or introductory
semester’s work, and requires two class-room periods per
week. Each student is compelled to take two laboratory
periods of three hours per week along with the class work.
The outline of the laboratory work is given at the end of
the text. Results attained seem to justify this plan. A
text-book is but one of many pedagogical mechanisms and is
not intended to be an encyclopedia of the subject.
The author makes no claim to originality of content, since
the facts presented are well known to every bacteriologist,
though the method of presentation is somewhat different
from texts in general. During the preparation of this work
he has made a thorough review of the literature of Bacteri-
ology, covering the standard text-books as well as works of
reference and the leading periodicals dealing with the sub-
ject. Thus the latest information has been incorporated.
No attempt has been made to give detailed references in a
work of this character.
vi . PREFACE
The photomicrographs are original except where otherwise
indicated and are all of a magnification of one thousand
diameters where no statement to the contrary appears.
These photographs were made with a Bausch & Lomb Pro-
jection Microscope fitted with a home-made camera box.
Direct current arc light was used and exposures were five
to ten seconds. Photographs of cultures are also original
with a few indicated exceptions. All temperatures are
indicated in degrees centigrade.
For use of electrotypes or for prints furnished the author
is indebted to the following: A. P. Barber Creamery Supply
Company, Chicago, Ill.; Bausch & Lomb Optical Company,
Rochester, N. Y.; Creamery Package Manufacturing Com-
pany, Chicago, IIl.; Davis Milk Machinery Company, N.
Chicago, Ill.; Mr. C. B. Hoover, Superintendent of Sewage
Disposal Plant,:Columbus, O.; Mr. C. P. Hoover, Super-
intendent of Water Filtration Plant, Columbus, O.; The
Hydraulic Press Manufacturing Company, Mt. Gilead, O.;
Loew Manufacturing Company, Cleveland, O.; Metric
Metal Works, Erie, Pa.; Sprague Canning Machine Company,
Chicago, Ill.; U. S. Marine Hospital Service.; Wallace and
Tiernan Company, New York City, N. Y.
For the preparation of many cultures and slides, for great
assistance in the reading of proof and in the preparation of
the index, Miss Vera M. McCoy, Instructor in Bacteriology,
deserves the author’s thanks. _
The author trusts that the book will find a place in College
and University courses in Bacteriology.
C. B. M.
CoLumBus, 1917. ‘
CONTENTS.
Historical Introduction—Spontaneous Generation—Causation of
Disease—Putrefaction and Fermentation—Study of Forms—
Chronological Table. . . 2. . 2. 2... eee OU
CHAPTER I.
Position of Bacteria—Relationships to Algee—Yeasts—Molds—
Protozoa . . i 4st) ewe. trae 3 z 34
PAR TL.
MORPHOLOGY.
CHAPTER II.
Cell Structures—Cell Wall—Protoplasm—Plasmolysis—Plasmop-
tysis—Nucleus—Vacuoles—Capsules—Metachromatic Granules
—Flagella—Spores . & & gg yg 4339
CHAPTER III.
Cell Forms—Coccus—Bacillus—Spirillum . . 49
CHAPTER IV.
Cell Groupings . . . ....... r sc es, “452
CHAPTER V.
Classification——Migula’s < - 2. .'% . . 56
vill CONTENTS
PART II.
PHYSIOLOGY.
CHAPTER VI.
Occurrence—General Conditions for Growth—Moisture—Tem-
perature—Light—Oxygen—Osmotic Pressure — Electricity —
X-rays and Radium Emanations — Pressure — Mechanical
Vibration ..
61
CHAPTER VII.
Chemical Environment—Reaction of Medium—Chemical Com-
position 70
CHAPTER VIII.
Chemical Environment (Continued)—General Food Relation-
ships—Metabolism 75
CHAPTER IX.
Physiological GHEE Eee Ea of Carbohydrates—Split-
ting of Fats 2 82
CHAPTER X.
Physiological Activities (Continued)—Putrefaction of Proteins—
Cycles of Nitrogen, Carbon, Sulphur, Phosphorus
91
CHAPTER XI. :
Physiological Activities (Continued)—Production of Acids, Gases,
Esters, Alcohols, Aldehydes, Aromatic Compounds—Phosphor-
escence—Chromogenesis— Reduction— Oxidation — Production
of Heat—Absorption of Free ee Nutrition of
Green Plants . ee oe we 98
CHAPTER XII.
Physiological Activities (Continued)—Production of Enzymes—
Discussion on Enzymes—Toxins—Causation of Disease 109
CONTENTS
CHAPTER NII.
Disinfection — Sterilization — Disinfectants — Physical Agents—
Pasteurization 7
CHAFTER XIV.
Disinfection and Sterilization (Continued)—Chemical Agents
CHAPTER XV.
Disinfection and Sterilization (Continued)—Choice of Agent—
Practical Sterilization and Disinfection
PART Ty.
THE STUDY OF BACTERIA.
CHAPTER XVI.
Culture Media—Broth, Gelatin, Agar, Potatoes, Milk, Blood
Serum -
CHAPTER XVII.
Methods of Using Culture Media—Culture Tubes—Plates—
Anaérobic Cultures—Vignal Tubes—Fermentation Tubes—
Deep Culture Tubes—Novy Jars—Inoculation of Culture
Media dele, i
CHAPTER XVIII.
Isolation of Bacteria in Pure Culture—Dilution—Plating—Streak-
ing—Barber Apparatus—Aids in Isolation—Heat—Selective
Antiseptics—Selective Food—Indicators—Animal Inoculation
CHAPTER XIX.
Study of the Morphology of Bacteria—Bacteriological Microscope
—Hanging Drop Slides—Staining—Gram’s Method—Spores—
Acid-fast Bacilli—Capsules—Flagella é i Be «4
ix
118
14t
151
157
168
178
184
x CONTENTS
CHAPTER XX.
Study of the Physiology of Bacteria—Temperature—Incubators—
Thermal Death Point—Oxygen Relationships—Study of Physi-
ological Activities—Appearance of Growth on Culture Media . 196
CHAPTER XXI.
Animal Inoculation—Material for Bacteriological Examination . 210
PART IV.
GENERAL PATHOGENIC BACTERIOLOGY.
'
CHAPTER XXII.
Introduction — Infection — Acute Infection — Chronic Infection
—Specific—N peer Postulates—Virulence—Sus-
ceptibility . 2. 2. 2... owe ee ee 2. (218
CHAPTER XXIII.
Pathogenic Bacteria Outside the Body—As lea
Facultative Saprophytes—Latent—Carriers . . - 218
CHAPTER XXIV.
Channels of Infection—Skin—Mucose—Respiratory Tract—Ali-
mentary Tract—Dissemination in the Body—Paths of Elimi-
nation—Specificity of Location. . . . ‘ a 222
CHAPTER XXV.
Immuni ty—Natural—Artificial—Active—Passive—Production of
Immunity—Vaccine—Antiserum . . . . . . . . . 228
CHAPTER XXVI.
Theories of Immunity — Pasteur — Chauveau — Baumgirtner —
Metchnikoffi—Ehrlich—Principles of Ehrlich’s Theory . . . 234
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXVII.
Ehrlich’s Theory (Continued)—Receptors of the First Order—
Antitoxin—Antienzyme—Preparation of Antitoxins—Units
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Ehrlich’s Theory (Continued)—Receptors of the Second Order—
Agglutinins—Agglutination Reaction—Precipitins—Precipitin
Test
CHAPTER XXIX.
Ebrlich’s Theory (Continued)—Receptors of the Third Order—
Cytolysins — Amboceptor — Complement — Anti-amboceptors
—Antisnake Venoms—Failure of Cytolytic Serums in Practice—
Complement-fixation Test enn Cees
CHAPTER XXX.
Phagocytosis—Opsonins—Opsonic Index—Bacterial Vaccines—
Preparation of—Use of—Aggressins fou ee ASR ‘:
CHAPTER XXXI.
Anaphylaxis—Author’s Theory—Tuberculin Test—Summary
238
242
. 248
256
264
BACTERIOLOGY.
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
BacTERIOLOGY as a science is a development of the latter
half of the nineteenth century. It may be said to have begun
with Koch’s proof that Bacterium anthracis is the cause
of anthrax in 1876. Nevertheless this discovery of Koch’s
was preceded by numerous observations and experiments
which led up to it. Some of this work was done in attempt-
ing to disprove the old “spontaneous generation” theory as
to the origin of organisms; some in searching for the causes
of disease and some in the study of fermentation and putre-
faction.
SPONTANEOUS GENERATION.
Speculation as to the first origin of life is as old as history
and doubtless older. Every people of antiquity had its own
legends, as for example, the account in Genesis. This ques-
tion never can be definitely settled, even though living
matter should be made in the laboratory.
The doctrine of the “spontaneous origin” of particular
animals or plants from dead material under man’s own
observation is a somewhat different proposition and may be
subjected to experimental test. The old Greek philosophers
believed it. Anaximander (B.c. 610-547) taught that some
animals are derived from moisture. Even Aristotle (B.c.
384-322) said that “animals sometimes arise in soil, in
plants, or in other animals,” 7. e., spontaneously. It can be
stated that this belief was general from his day down through
the Dark and Middle Ages and later. Cardano (a.p. 1501-
1576) wrote that water gives rise to fish and animals and is
2
18 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
also the cause of fermentation. Van Helmont (1578-1644)
gives directions for making artificial mice. Kircher (1602-
1680) describes and figures animals produced under his own
eyes by water on plant stems.
However, many thinkers of the seventeenth century
doubted the truth of this long-established belief. Francesco
Redi (1626-1698) made a number of experiments which
tended to prove that maggots did not arise spontaneously
in meat, as was generally believed, but developed only when
flies had an opportunity to deposit their eggs on the meat.
It seems that by the latter part of this century the idea
that organisms large enough to be seen with the naked eye
could originate spontaneously was generally abandoned by
learned men. :
The work of Leeuwenhoek served to suspend for a time
the subject of spontaneous generation, only to have it revived
more vigorously later on. He is usually called “The Father
of the Microscope,” though the compound microscope was
invented probably by Hans Zansz or his son Zacharias, of
Holland, about 1590. Leeuwenhoek used a simple lens, but
his instruments were so much more powerful that they
opened up an entirely new and unknown world.
Anthony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) was apprenticed
to a linen draper, and accumulated a comfortable fortune
in this business. He became interested in the grinding of
spectacle lenses, then an important industry in Delft,
Holland, where he lived, and did a great deal of experimental
work in this line, mainly for his own enjoyment. Finally he
succeeded in making a lens so powerful that he could see
in water and various infusions very minute living bodies
never before observed. Leeuwenhoek contributed 112 papers
to the Royal Society of Great Britain, the first in 1673,
many of them accompanied by such accurate descriptions
and drawings, for example a paper submitted September 12,
1683, that there is no doubt that he really saw bacteria and
was the first to do so (Fig. 1). Rightly may he be styled
“The Father of Bacteriology,” if not of the microscope. He
says in one paper: “With the greatest astonishment I
observed that everywhere through the material which I
SPONTANEOUS GENERATION 19
was examining were distributed animalcules of the most
microscopic dimness which moved themselves about in a
remarkably energetic way.” Thus he considered these liv-
ing objects to be animals, from their motion, and this belief
held sway for nearly two hundred years.
Leeuwenhoek was a pure observer of facts and made no
attempt at speculation, but his discoveries soon started the
theorists to discussing the origin of these minute organisms.
Most observers, as was probably to be expected, believed
that they arose spontaneously. Needham, in 1749, described
the development of microédrganisms around grains of barley
Fic. 1.—The first drawings of bacteria by Leeuwenhoek. The dotted line
- C-D indicates movement of the organism.
in water. Bonnet, in 1768, suggested that probably Need-
ham’s animalcules came from ova in the liquid. The Abbot
Spallanzani, in 1769, called attention to the crudeness of
Needham’s methods and later, in 1776, attempted to dis-
prove spontaneous origin by heating infusions of organic
material in flasks and then sealing them. His critics raised
the objections that heating the liquids destroyed their
ability to support life, and that sealing prevented the access
of fresh air which was also necessary. The first objection
was disproved by the accidental cracking of some of the
flasks which thereafter showed an abundant growth. This
20 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
accident seemed also to support the second objection, and
Spallanzani did not answer it. Though Spallanzani’s experi-
ments failed to convince his opponents, they led to important
practical results, since in Francois Appert, 1810, applied them
to the preserving of fruits, meats, etc., and in a sense started
the modern canning industry.
From Spallanzani to Schultze, there were no further
experiments to prove or disprove spontaneous generation.
Schultze, in 1836, attempted to meet the second objection to
Spallanzani’s experiment, 7. ¢., the exclusion of air, by draw-
ing air through his boiled infusions, first causing it to bubble
Fic. 2.—Schultze’s experiment. The set of bulbs next to the face con-
tained KOH and the other set concentrated H2SO.. Air was drawn through
at frequent intervals from May until August but no growth developed in
the boiled infusion.
through concentrated sulphuric acid to kill the “germs”
(Fig. 2). His flasks fortunately showed no growths, but
his critics claimed that the strong acid changed the proper-
ties of the air so that it would not support life. Schwann, in
1837, modified this experiment by drawing the air through
a tube heated to destroy the living germs (Fig 3). His
experiments were successful but the “spontaneous genera-
tion” theorists raised the same objection, 7. e., the change
in the air by heating. Similar arguments were brought
forward, also to the use of cotton plugs as filters by Schroeder
SPONTANEOUS GENERATION 21
and Dusch in 1859 (Fig. 4). It remained for Chevreuil and
Pasteur to overcome this objection in 1861 by the use of
Fic. 3.—Schwann’s experiment. After boiling, as shown in the diagram,
and cooling, air was drawn into the flask by aspiration while the coiled tube
was kept hot with the flame.
Fic. 4.—Schroeder and Dusch’s experiment. The aspirating bottle drew
the air through the flask after it had been filtered by the cotton in the
tube
22 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
Fic. 5.—Pasteur’s flask.
Fic. 6.—Tyndall’s box. One side is removed to show the construction.
The bent tubes at the top are to permit a free circulation of air into the
interior. The window at the back has one corresponding in the front
(removed). Through these the beam of light sent through from the lamp
at the side was observed. The three tubes received the infusion and were
then boiled in an oil bath. The pipette was for filling the tubes. (Popular
Science Monthly, April, 1877.)
CAUSATION OF DISEASE 23
flasks with long necks drawn out to a point and bent over.
These permitted a full access of air by diffusion but kept
out living germs, since these cannot fly but are carried
mechanically by air currents or fall of their own weight
(Fig. 5). Hoffman, the year before (1860), had made similar
experiments but these remained unnoticed. The Pasteur
flasks convinced most scientists that “spontaneous genera-
tion” has never been observed by man, though some few,
notably Dr. Charlton Bastian, of England, vigorously sup-
ported the theory from the early seventies until his death
in November, 1915.
John Tyndall, in combating Bastian’s views, showed that
boiled infusions left open to the air in a closed box through
which air circulated did not show-any growth of organisms
provided the air was so free of particles that the path of a
ray of light sent through it from side to side could not be
seen (Fig. 6). Or if such sterilized infusions were exposed
to dust-free air, as in the high Alps, the majority showed no
growth, while all infusions in dusty air did show an abun-
dance of organisms. Tyndall’s experiments confirmed those
of Pasteur and his predecessors and showed that the organ-
isms developed from ‘germs’ present in the air falling into
the liquids and not spontaneously.
CAUSATION OF DISEASE.
Apparently the first writer on this subject was Varo, about
B.c. 70, who suggested that fevers in swampy places were
due to invisible organisms. Fracastorius (1484-1553), in
a work published in 1546, elaborated a theory of “disease
germs” and “direct and indirect contagion” very similar to
modern views, though based on no direct pathological knowl-
edge. Nevertheless Kircher (mentioned already) is usually
given undeserved credit for the “contagium vivum”’ theory.
In 1657 by the use of simple lenses he observed “worms” in
decaying substances, in blood and in the pus from bubonic
plague patients (probably rouleaux of corpuscles in the
blood, certainly not bacteria in any case). Based on these
observations and possibly also on reading the work of
24 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
Fracastorius, his theory of a “living cause” for various dis-
eases was published in 1671, but received little support.
The discoveries of Leeuwenhoek which proved the exist-
ence of microscopic organisms soon revived the “contagium
vivum”’ idea of Kircher. Nicolas Andry in a work pub-
lished in 1701 held such views. Lancisi in 1718 advanced
the idea that “animalcules” were responsible for malaria, a
view not proved until Laveran discovered the malarial para-
site in 1880.1. Physicians ascribed the plague which visited
Southern France in 1721 to the same cause, and many even
went so far as to attribute all disease to animalcules, which
brought the theory into ridicule. Nevertheless, the ‘“con-
tagium vivum” theory survived, and even Linnaeus in his
Systema Nature (1753-6) recognized it by placing the
organisms of Leeuwenhoek, the contagia of diseases and the
causes of putrefaction and fermentation in one class called
“Chaos.”
Plenciz, a prominent physician and professor in the Vienna
Medical School, published in 1762 a work in which he gave
strong arguments for the “living cause” theory for trans-
missable diseases. He taught that the agent is evidently
transmitted through the air and that there is a certain
period of incubation pointing to a multiplication within the
body. He also believed that there was a specific agent
for each disease. His writings attracted little attention at
the time and the “contagium vivum’’ theory seems to have
been almost lost sight of for more than fifty years. Indeed,
Oznam, in 1820, said it was no use to waste time in refuting
hypotheses as to the animal nature of contagium.
Isolated observers were, however, keeping the idea alive,
each in his own locality. In 1787 Wollstein, of Vienna,
showed that the pus from horses with glanders could infect
other horses if inoculated into the skin. Abilgaard, of
Copenhagen, made similar experiments at about the same
time. In 1797 Eric Viborg, a pupil of Abilgaard’s, published
experiments in which he showed the infectious nature not
1Sir H. A. Blake has called attention to the fact that the ‘mosquito -
theory” of malaria is mentioned in a Sanscrit manuscript of about the 6th
century A.D.
4
CAUSATION OF DISEASE 25
only of the pus but also of the nasal discharges, saliva,
urine, etc., of glandered horses. Prevost’s discovery of the
cause of grain rust (Puccinia graminis) in 1807 was the first
instance of an infectious disease of plants shown to be due
to a microscopic plant organism, though not a bacterium in
this case.
In 1822 Gaspard showed the poisonous nature of material
from infected wounds by injecting it into animals and caus-
ing their death. Bearing on the “contagium vivum”’ theory
was the rediscovery of the “itch mite” (Sarcoptes scabier) by
Renucci (1834), an Italian medical student. This had been
declared several hundred years before but had been lost
sight of. Chevreuil and Pasteur, in 1836, showed that putre-
faction did not occur in meat protected from contamination,
and suggested that wound infection probably resulted from
entrance of germs from without. Bassi, investigating a dis-
ease of silkworms in Italy, demonstrated that a certain
mold-like fungus (Botrytis bassiana) was the cause in 1837.
This was the first instance of a microscopic vegetable organ-
ism proved to be capable of causing disease in an animal.
Boehm, in 1838, observed minute organisms in the stools
of cholera patients and conjectured that they might have a
causal connection with the disease. The fungous nature of
Favus, a scalp disease, was recognized by Schénlein in 1839,
and the organism was afterward called ‘‘Achorion schoen-
leinat.”” Berg, in 1839-41, showed that Thrush is likewise due
to a fungus, “ Oidium albicans.”
These discoveries led Henle, in 1840, to publish a work in
which he maintained that all contagious diseases must be
_ due to living organisms, and to propound certain postulates
(afterward restated by Koch and now known as “Koch’s
postulates”) which must be demonstrated before one can be
sure that a given organism is the specific cause of a given
disease. The methods then in vogue and the instruments of
that period did not enable Henle to prove his claims, but he
must be given the credit for establishing the “contagium
vivum” theory on a good basis and pointing the way for
men better equipped to prove its soundness in after years.
In 1842-43 Gruby showed that Herpes tonsurans, a form
26 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
of ringworm, is due to the fungus Trichophyton tonsurans.
Klencke, in 1843, produced generalized tuberculosis in a rab-
bit by injecting tuberculous material into a vein in the ear,
but did not carry his researches further. Liebert identified
the Peronospora infestans as the cause of one type of potato
rot in 1845. The skin disease pityriasis. (tinea) versicolor
was shown to be due to the Microsporon furfur by Eichstedt
in 1846.
Pollender, in 1849, and Davaine and Rayer, in 1850, inde-
pendently observed small rod-like bodies in the blood of
sheep and cattle which had died of splenic fever (anthrax).
That Egyptian chlorosis, afterward identified with Old
World “hookworm disease,” is caused by the Ankylosto-
mum duodenale was shown by Griesinger in 1851. In the
same year the Schistosomum hematobium was shown to be
the cause of the “Bilharzia disease’? by Bilharz. Kiichen-
meister discovered the tapeworm, Tenia solium, in 1852,
Cohn, an infectious disease of flies due to a parasitic fungus
(Empusa musce) in 1855, and Zenker the Trichinella spiralis
in trichinosis of pork (“measly pork”) in 1860. The organ-
isms just mentioned are, of course, not bacteria, but these
discoveries proved conclusively that leving things of one kind
or another, some large, most of them microscopic, could cause
disease in other organisms and stimulated the search for
other ‘‘living contagiums.”’ In 1863 Davaine, already men-
tioned, showed that anthrax could be transmitted from
animal to animal by inoculation of blood, but only if the
blood contained the minute rods which he believed to be the
cause. In 1865 Villemin repeatedly caused tuberculosis in
rabbits by subcutaneous injection of tuberculous material
and showed that this disease must be infectious also. In
this same year Lord Lister introduced antiseptic methods
in surgery. He believed that wound infections were due
to microérganisms getting in from the air, the surgeon’s
fingers, etc., and without proving this, he used carbolic acid
to kill these germs and prevent the infection. His pioneer
experiments made modern surgery possible. In this year
also, Pasteur was sent to investigate a disease, Pebrine,
which was destroying the silkworms in Southern France.
SIR JOSEPH LISTER
ROBERT KOCH
CAUSATION OF DISEASE 27
He showed the cause to be a protozoan which had been seen
previously by Cornalia and described by Niageli under the
name Nosema bombycis and devised preventive measures.
This was the first infectious disease shown to be due to a proto-
zoan. In 1866 Rindfleisch observed small pin-point-like
bodies in the heart muscle of persons who had died of wound
infection. Klebs, in 1870-71, published descriptions and
names of organisms he had found in the material from simi-
lar wounds, though he did not establish their causal rela-
tion. Bollinger, in 1872, discovered the spores of anthrax
and explained the persistence of the disease in certain dis-
tricts as due to the resistant spores. In 1873 Obermeier
observed in the blood of patients ‘suffering from recurrent
fever long, flexible spiral organisms which have been named
Sptirocheta obermeiert. Lésch ascribed tropical dysentery
to an ameba, named by him Ameba colt, in 1875. Finally,
Koch, in 1876, isolated the anthrax bacillus by means of gelatin
plates (first used by Emil Chr. Hansen in his studies on veast),
worked out the life history of the organism and reproduced
the disease by the injection of pure cultures and recovered
the organism from the inoculated animals, thus establish-
ing beyond reasonable doubt its causal relationship to the
disease. This was the first instance of a bacterium proved
to be the cause of a disease in animals. Pasteur, working on
the disease at the same time, confirmed all of Koch’s find-
ings, though his results were published the next year, 1877.
Bollinger determined that the Actinomyces bovis (Strepto-
thriz bovis) is the cause of actinomycosis in cattle in 1877.
Woronin in the same year discovered a protozoan (Plasmo-
diophora brassice) to be the cause of a disease in cabbage
plants, the first proved instance of a unicellular animal caus-
ing a disease in a plant. In 1878 Koch published his
researches on wound infection in which he showed beyond
question that microérganisms are the cause of this condi-
tion, though Pasteur, in 1837, had suggested the same thing
and Lister had acted on the theory in preventing infection.
These discoveries, especially those of Koch, immediately
attracted world-wide attention and stimulated a host of
workers, so that within the next ten years most of the bac-
28 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
teria which produce disease in men and animals were iso-
lated and described. It is well to remember that the first
specific disease of man proved to be caused by a bacterium
was tuberculosis, by Koch in 1882.
Progress was greatly assisted by the introduction of anilin
dyes as suitable stains for organisms by Weigert in 1877, by
Koch’s application of special technic and solid cultures for
isolation and study, and the great improvements in the
microscope by Prof. Abbé, of Jena.
Laveran’s discovery of the malarial parasite in 1880 turned
attention to protozoa as the causes of disease and led to the
discovery of the various piroplasmoses and irypanosemiases
in man and the lower animals.
Pasteur’s protective inoculations in chicken cholera and
anthrax directed attention to the possibility of using bac-
teria or their products as a specific protective or curative
means against particular diseases. This finally led to the dis-
covery of diphtheria antitoxin by Behring, and independently
by Roux, in 1890, a discovery which opened up the wide
field of immunity which is so persistently cultivated at the
' present time.
While the causation of disease by bacteria has probably
attracted most attention, especially in the popular mind, it
should not be forgotten that this is but one of the numerous
ways in which these organisms manifest their activities, and
in a sense it is one of their least-important ways, since other
kinds are essential in many industries (dairying, agriculture)
and processes (sewage purification) and are even indispen-
sable for the very existence of all green plants and hence of
animals, including man himself.
PUTREFACTION AND FERMENTATION.
The idea that there is a certain resemblance between
some infectious diseases and the processes of putrefaction
and fermentation seems to have originated during the dis-
cussion on spontaneous generation and the “contagium
vivum” theory which followed Leeuwenhoek’s discoveries.
Plenciz (1762) appears to have first formulated this belief
LOUIS PASTEUR
PUTREFACTION AND FERMENTATION 29
in writing. He considered putrefaction to be due to the
“animalcules” and said that it occurred only when there
was a coat of organisms on the material and only when
they increased and multiplied. Spallanzani’s experiments
tended to support this view since his infusions did not
“spoil” when boiled and sealed. Appert’s practical appli-
cation of this idea has been mentioned.
Thaer, in his Principles of Rational Agriculture, pub-
lished in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, expressed
the belief that the “blue milk fermentation” was probably
due to a kind of fungus that gets in from the air, and stated
that he had prevented it by treating the milk cellars and
vessels with sulphur fumes or with “ oxygenated hydrochloric
acid” (hypochlorous acid).
In 1836 Chevreuil and Pasteur showed that putrefaction
did not occur in meat protected from contamination. In
1837 Caignard-Latour, in France, and Schwann, in Germany,
‘independently showed that alcoholic fermentation in beer
and wine is due to the growth of a microscopic plant, the
yeast, in the fermenting wort. C.J. Fuchs described the
organism which is commonly called the “blue milk bacillus”’
in 1841 and conjectured that the souring of milk was prob-
ably bacterial in origin. It remained for Pasteur to prove
this in 1857. During the following six or seven years Pas-
teur also proved that acetic acid fermentation, as in vinegar
making, butyric acid fermentation (odor of rancid butter
and old cheese) and the ammoniacal fermentation of urea,
so noticeable around stables, were each due to different species
of bacteria. Pasteur also, during the progress of this work,
discovered the class of organisms which can grow in the
absence of free oxygen—the anaérobic bacteria. There is
no question that Pasteur from 1857 on did more to lay the
foundations of the science of bacteriology than any other
one man. Influenced by Pasteur’s work von Hesseling, in
1866, stated his belief that the process of cheese ripening, like
the souring of milk, was associated with the growth of fungi,
and Martin also, in 1867, stated that cheese ripening was
a process which was akin to alcoholic, lactic and butyric
fermentations. Kette, in 1869, asserted the probability of
30 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
Pasteur’s researches furnishing a scientific basis for many
processes of change in the soil. In 1873 Schlésing and
Miintz showed that nitrification must be due to the action
of microérganisms, though the discovery of the particular
ones remained for Winogradsky in 1889. Thus the belief
that fermentation and putrefaction are due to microdrgan-
isms was as well established by the early eighties of the last
century as that similar organisms are the causes of infectious
diseases.
STUDY OF FORMS.
An important part of the scientific knowledge of living
organisms is dependent on a study of their forms and rela-
tionships. As has been stated, Leeuwenhoek considered
bacteria to be “animalcules’” because they showed inde-
pendent movement. But little attention was paid to, the
natural history of these animalcules for nearly a hundred
years after Leeuwenhoek. During the last quarter of the
eighteenth century, however, workers busied themselves
chiefly with the discovery and description of new forms.
Among these students were Baron Gleichen, Jablot, Lesser,
Reaumur, Hill and others. Miiller, of Copenhagen, in 1786
published the first attempt at classification, a most impor-
tant step in the study of these organisms. Miiller intro-
duced the terms Monas, Proteus and Vibrio which are
still in use. Ehrenberg, in his work on Infusoria, or the
organisms found in infusions, published in 1838, introduced
many generic names in use at present, but still classed the
bacteria with protozoa. Joseph Leidy, the American geol-
ogist, who took great interest in natural history in general,
considered that the ‘‘vibrios” of previous writers were plants
and not ‘“‘animalcules.’’ He seems to have been the first to
have made this distinction (1849). Perty (1852) recognized
the presence of spores in some of his organisms. Ferdinand:
Cohn (1854) classed the bacteria among plants. Niégeli (1857)
proposed the name “Schizomycetes” or “fission fungi,”
which is still retained for the entire class of bacteria. Cohn .
in the years 1872-1875 established classification on a mod-
ern basis and added greatly to the knowledge of morphology
STUDY OF FORMS 31
and natural history of bacteria. He described spore forma-
tion and the development of spores into active bacteria,
and showed the close relationships as well as differences
between the bacteria and the lower alge. Robert Koch
was a pupil of Cohn.
An examination of the accompanying chronological table
will show how the investigations and discoveries in con-
nection with “spontaneous generation,” the “contagium
vivum” theory and putrefaction and fermentation must
have been mutually suggestive:
“1546. Fracastorius, disease germs theory and direct and
indirect contagion.
1671. Kircher, “contagium vivum”’ theory.
° 1675. Leeuwenhoek, first saw bacteria, ‘‘animalcules.”’
1701. Andry, “animalcules” cause of diseases.
1718. Lancisi, “animalcules” cause of malaria.
1749. Needham, described development of organisms in
water around barley grains.
1762. Plenciz, arguments for “living cause” theory and
that “animalcules” cause putrefaction.
1768. Bonnet, suggested that probably Needham’s organ-
isms came from germs in the liquid.
1776. Spallanzani, boiled and sealed infusions.
1786. Miiller, first classified “animalcules.”
1787. Wollstein, glanders pus infectious.
1797. Viborg, transmitted glanders repeatedly.
1807. Prevost, grain rust, Puccinia graminis.
1810. Appert, directions for ‘canning.’
1822. Gaspard, infectiousness of material from wounds.
1834. Renucci, itch—itch mite (Sarcoptes scabvet).
1836. Schultze, air through acid to kill “germs.”
1837. Chevreuil and Pasteur, protected meat did not
putrefy; suggested wound infection due to entrance
of germs from without.
1837. Caignard-Latour, Schwann, alcoholic fermentation
—yveast.
1837. Schwann, air through heated tubes to kill germs.
1837. Bassi, muscardine of silkworms, Botrytis bassiana.
32
1838.
1838.
1839.
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
Boehm, cholera, saw organisms in stools (not the
cause).
Ehrenberg, study of forms.
Schénlein, Favus, Achorion schoenleinit.
1839-41. Berg, Thrush, Oidiwm albicans.
1840.
1841.
Henle, theory of contagious diseases.
Fuchs, bacterial cause of blue milk.
1842-43. Gruby, Herpes tonsurans, Trichophyton ton-
1843
1845
1846.
1849.
1849.
1850.
1851.
1851.
1852.
1852.
1854.
1855.
1857.
1857.
1860.
1861.
1863.
1865.
1865.
1865.
1866.
1866.
1867.
1869.
surans.
Klencke, inoculations of tuberculous material into
rabbit.
Liebert, a potato rot, Peronospora infestans. .
Eichstedt, Pityriasis versicolor, Microsporon furfur.
Leidy, Joseph (American geologist), considered
“‘vibrios” to be plants.
Pollender, Anthrax, saw rods in blood.
Davaine and Rayer, Anthrax , saw rods in blood.
Griesinger, Egyptian chlorosis, Ankylostoma duo-
denale.
Bilharz, Bilharzia disease, Schistosomum hematobium.
Kiickenmeister, tapeworm, Tenia soliwm.
Perty, saw spores in bacteria.
Cohn, classed bacteria as plants.
Cohn, Disease of Flies, Empusa musce.
Nageli, named bacteria, Schizomycetes.
Pasteur, lactic, acetic, butyric acid fermentation.
Zenker, Trichinosis, Trichinella spiralis.
Pasteur, disproof of spontaneous generation.
Davaine, transmitted anthrax by blood injections.
Pasteur, Pebrine of silkworms, Nosema bombycis.
Villemin, repeatedly transmitted tuberculosis to
rabbits.
Lister, introduced antisepsis in surgery.
Rindfleisch, Pyemia, organisms in the pus.
Von Hesseling, cheese ripening.
De Martin, cheese ripening akin to alcoholic fer-
mentation.
Kette, Pasteur’s researches scientific basis for many
processes in the soil.
1871.
1872.
STUDY OF FORMS 30
Klebs, Pyemia, organisms in the pus.
Bollinger, spores in anthrax.
1872-75. Cohn, definite classification.
1873.
1873.
1875.
Obermeier, Recurrent fever, Spirocheta obermeiert.
Schlésing and Miinz, nitrification due to organisms.
Lésch, Amebic dysentery, Ameba colt.
1875-76. Tyndall, germs in the air.
1876.
1877.
1877.
1877.
1878.
1881.
Robert Koch, Anthrax, Bacteriwm anthracis.
Bollinger, Actinomycosis, Actinomyces bovis (Strep-
tothriz bovis).
Weigert, used anilin dyes for staining.
Woronin, Cabbage disease, Plasmodiophora brassice.
Koch, wound infections, bacterial in origin.
Koch, gelatin plate cultures. Abbé, improvements
in the microscope.
CHAPTER I.
POSITION—RELATIONSHIPS.
Bacteria are considered to belong to the plant kingdom
not because of any one character they possess, but because
they most nearly resemble organisms which are generally
recognized as plants. While it is not difficult to distinguish
between the higher plants and higher animals, it becomes
almost, if not quite, impossible to separate the lowest forms
of life. It is only by the method of .resemblances above
mentioned that a decision-is finally reached. It has even
been proposed to make a third class of organisms neither
plants nor animals but midway between in which the bac-
teria are included, but such a classification has not as yet
been adopted.
In many respects the bacteria are most nearly related to
- the lowest alg@, since both are unicellular organisms, both
reproduce by transverse division and the forms of the cell
are strikingly similar. The bacteria differ in one important
respect, that is, they do not contain chlorophyl, the green
coloring matter which enables all plants possessing it to
absorb and break up carbon dioxide in the light, and hence
belong among the fungi. Bacteria average much smaller
than even the smallest alge. Bacteria are closely con-
nected with the fission yeasts and the yeasts and torule.
All are unicellular and without chlorophyl. The bacteria,
as has been stated, reproduce by division but the others
characteristically by budding or gemmation, though the fission
yeasts also by division.
There is a certain resemblance to the molds in their
absence of chlorophyl. But the molds grow as branching
threads and also have special fruiting organs for producing
spores as a means of reproduction, neither of which charac-
teristics is found among the true bacteria. The higher
POSITION—RELATIONSHIPS 35
thread bacteria do show true branching and rudimen-
tary fruiting bodies (Streptothrix) and appear to be a link
connecting the true bacteria and the molds.
Fic. 7.— NaOH, using phenolphthalein as an indi-
eator; make titrations at same time from blank. The difference
gives the amount of acid produced.
The titration should be done after boiling to drive off any
CO: present in the culture.
(7) Generic nomenclature shall begin with the year 1872
(Cohn’s first important paper). . ;
Species nomenclature shall begin with the year 1880 (Koch's
discovery of the pour plate method for the separation of organisms).
(8) Chromogenesis shall be recorded in standard color terms.
TABLE I.
A NUMERICAL SYSTEM OF RECORDING THE SALIENT
CHARACTERS OF AN ORGANISM. (GROUP NUMBER.)
LOO: 2oxis 239 ¢ eae s Endospores produced.
200. Endospores not produced
10. ..Aérobic (strict) 2 © —_.___.
suoysofanby :juassa10qsp ‘asowunjd
‘snoyia ‘ayoydod ‘peppsq ‘utwofipf ‘amjound jo eury
“poasds-apin ‘paysysal :yuppungo ‘Ayunss {MOI
aowpims :t070q 7D 783q ‘doz 7D 7s2q ‘wiofiun YpMoIN)
“qeIS Tes
IpRaes Ve ut ajzeduioo ‘po Ur sulgeq woljejenbry
“pausa.8 ‘paniq ‘pauappas ‘paumolg ‘pefins8 WUNIpeyy
se Wunere e. Sane cutie (g) Stseuadom0Iy
-asoontiaa ‘as0bns ‘painozuos ‘yjooums ‘Aqdeigodoy,
“snoaanjaso ‘ynp. ‘buruajsy6 ‘ai1ysn'y
“zZaauos ‘pasos ‘asnffa ‘yous ‘GYMOIZ JO UOTBAa[AL
‘pwoziys ‘yusrsasogip ‘asounjd ‘Bur
-ppasds ‘papvag ‘aypjnurysa ‘wsofiyyfy ‘YIMoIZ Jo WI0T
‘quppungn ‘3zbsspou. ‘fyuvos ‘ajqisaUs BOS
“wnJas-poolg S,JaqyeoT
“pausaib ‘pang ‘pauappas ‘paunosg ‘paftosd ‘umIpay
"aqqttg ‘snoI70109
ee
‘
Source______--. as cemnwes Group No. ()ascsscesweg ye eececes
DETAILED @ moderate, strong, absent, BRIEF CHARACTERIZATION.
; Mark + or O, and when two terms
NOTE -Underacore requir occur on a line erase the one which
glossary of terms on opposite does not apply unless both apply.
ements DOK MOY 2 ENG BT
I. MORPHOLOGY (2 free nitrogen...........- aa 3 r
Caen ites ae RD. = Diameter over Iu
1. Mapetaiine Cells, Mediumnedium, slight. Bi Chains, filaments
Diss pessesce rascal cea ag
era ae short rods, medium, slight 3 —
chains, filaments, comm ‘ ae
‘clostridium, cuneate, cla’wth in bouillon, stated in a eee
Limits OUI Ze ces cote, # igang oe bY en Dees as By Zooglea, Pseudozooglea
ize of Majority....... i derate, h i
Ends, mnie truncate, ue atpmnodegete, tong g Motile
2 rientation ; ‘ Involution forms
H 10) minutes’ exposure in RV ONO:
angene Bib Short ae is adapted to growth of Gram's stain ;
2. Sporaieid, peas for growth... ... ° C.; or Cloudy, turbid
age ‘daw C., 25° C., 30° C., 87° C., | Ring
gee aMaeeecare: $ a
SC, SOEs short Top prowth.......... °C. & Pellicle
Limits of Size.......... = growth... eae C. ;
Agar Orientation sistant to drying. Sediment
Hanging-block ee oe (salt and crushed ice or Shining
1ON +...
3. ede ndospores, ¢ in thinly sown agar plates; 3 put fee
Form, round, elliptical, el ime 15 minutes), sensitive, & | < | Wrinkled Pool
imits of Size.......... n i
Size of Majority.......°°°7 7" I eee —
ve thick, a pe 5 Round.
orangium wal eren. 7
ermination, equatorial," """ g 3 Proteus-like
stretching, = = ‘"7ttt : & a izoi
4, Flagella, No........- Ati diastase, invertase, pectase, i) ai eee
trichiate. How Stained peroxidase, lipase, catalase, & | Filamentous
5, Capsules, present on... ia
a Zooglea, neudlaxpoelee a Curled nae
- Involution Forms, on... =) 70
© Stebcie Bonstignee 7” 218075 #58 4 tera Gems s wee 5 34 Surface growth =e
1:10 watery fuchsin, g H | On | Needle growth :
Loeffler’s alkaline meth 8 bares
Special Stains, - 5 Moderate, absent . J
co a B Ist 2 ee sea
Neisser..........0-00+ g a Be © | Discolored
1 . eo —
used a z = Be Starch destroyed £
Il. CULTURAL FEATURES 3 2 2 s g Grows at 37° C.
1. Agar Stroke. g E a & 2 Grows in Cohn’s sol. ——|
Growth, invisible, scanty, - an Uschi eae!
Form of enaniih, filiform, Grows in Uschinsky’s sol. |
Pp , arbor: t, rh Gelatin (4
Elevation of growth, flat, 6a © =
Lustre, alis tening, dull, cre an EI 3 Blood-serum
‘opography, smooth, cont & ao A
Opies! characters, opaqu. S Hs an
escent.
Chromogenesis (8)...... ! a = 7
Grice, absent, me reser | g | Acid curd
onsistency, slimy, butyr¢ i & a
aceous, brittle. | I Rennet curd eco
Medium grayed, browned, ___! | | Z| Casein peptonized
2. Potato. SS i
ea nad gr oo 6. | ! | 3 Indol ©)
‘orm of growth, filiform, | *
plumose, arborescent, rhi. | B Hydrogen sulphide fa
Elevation of growth, flat, ¢ | | Ammonia ()
Lustre, glistening, dull, ere 3 z
Topography, snes cont: 3 Nitrates reduced (5) \
omogenesis (8)....... .
uble, soluble: other solve Bluorescent |
Odor, absent, decided, reser Luminous |
Consistency, slimy, but:
- | Animel.patheran onizaon
GROWTH ON DIFFERENT CULTURE MEDIA. 201
Among the cultural appearances the following are of most
importance: |
Fic. 142.—Broth cultures x 3.
broth cloudy from growth of organisms; 3, broth slightly cloudy with a
deposit in bottom; 4, broth slightly cloudy with a heavy membrane at the
surface.
1, uninoculated transparent broth; 2,
In broth cultures the presence or absence of growth on
the surface and the amount of the same. Whether the
202 STUDY OF THE PHYSIOLOGY OF BACTERIA
broth is rendered cloudy or remains clear, and whether there
is a deposit at the bottom or not (Fig. 142). An abundant
surface growth with little or nothing below indicates a strict
aérobe, while a growth or deposit at bottom and a clear or
nearly clear medium above an anaérobe. These appear-
Fig. 143.—A fili- Fic. 144.—A beaded Fic. 145.—A vill-
form stab or punc- stab or puncture cul- ous stab or puncture
ture culture. x . ture. > }. culture. xX 3.
ances are for the first-few days only of growth. If the broth
is disturbed, or after the culture stands for several days
many surface growths tend to sink to the bottom. So an
actively motile organism causes in general a cloudiness,
especially if the organism is a facultative anaérobe, which
tends to clear up by precipitation after several days when
GROWTH ON DIFFERENT CULTURE MEDIA 203
the organisms lose their motility. Non-motile facultative
anaérobes usually cloud the broth also, but settle out more
rapidly than the motile ones.
Fie. 146 Fig. 147 Fic. 148 Fria. 149
Fia. 146.—Crateriform liquefaction of gelatin. xX 3.
Fig. 147.—Funnelform liquefaction of gelatin. X 3.
Fic. 148.—Saccate liquefaction of gelatin. x 4.
Fic. 149.—Stratiform liquefaction of gelatin. X 4.
In gelatin and agar punctures the oxygen relationship is
shown by surface growth for aérobes, growth near the
bottom of the puncture for anaérobes, and a fairly uniform
growth all along the line of inoculation for facultative
204 STUDY OF THE PHYSIOLOGY OF BACTERIA
anaérobes. In the case of these last organisms, a preference
for more or less oxygen is indicated by the approach to the
aérobic or anaérobic type of growth.
Fie. 150.—Filiform Fie. 151.—Filiform, Fic. 152.—Beaded
slope culture. X 4. slightly spreading, slope culture. x 3.
slope culture. x 3.
Along the line of puncture the commonest types are
filiform (Fig. 143), which indicates a uniform growth; beaded
(Fig. 144), or small separate colonies; villous (Fig. 145), deli-
cate lateral outgrowths which do not branch; arborescent,
tree-like growths branching laterally from the line. In agar
these branchings are usually. short and stubby, or technically,
papilate.
GROWTH ON DIFFERENT CULTURE MEDIA 205
Further, in the gelatin puncture the liquefaction which
occurs is frequently characteristic. It may be crateriform
(Fig. 146), a shallow saucer at the surface; or funnel-shaped
Fig. 153 Fic. 154 Fig. 153 Fic. 156
Fig. 153.—Effuse slope culture. x 3.
Fic. 154.—Rhizoid slope culture. X 2.,
Fic. 155.—Rugose slope culture. X 3.
Fic. 156.—Verrucose slope culture. x 3.
(Fig. 147); or it may be of uniform width all along the
puncture, 7. e., saccate (Fig. 148); or it may be stratiform,
(Fig. 149), 7. e., the liquefaction extends to the sides of the
tube and proceeds uniformly downward,
206 STUDY OF THE PHYSIOLOGY OF BACTERIA \
On agar, potato and blood serum slope tubes the amount
of growth, its form and elevation, the character of the sur-
Fic. 158.—A rhizoid colony on a plate. Natural size.
GROWTH ON DIFFERENT CULTURE MEDIA 207
face, and the consistency should be carefully noted, and in
some few cases the character of the edge. Figures 150 to 156
show some of the commoner types.
Fic. 159.—Ameboid colonies on a plate. X 3.
Fic. 160.—Large effuse colony on a plate. The edge is lacerated. Inci-
dentally the colony shows the rate of growth for six successive days. X 3.
208 STUDY OF THE PHYSIOLOGY OF BACTERIA
Fic. 161.—Colony with edge entire Fic. 162.—Colony with edge
as seen under the low-power objective. coarsely granular as seen under
xX 100. thelow-power objective. 100.
Fic. 163.—Colony with edge Fic. 164.—Colony with edge rhiz-
curled as seen under the low-power oid as seen under the low-power
objective. X 100. objective. X 100.
Fic. 165.—A sinall deep rhizoid colony as seen under the low-power objective.
X 100,
GROWTH ON DIFFERENT CULTURE MEDIA 209
On agar and gelatin plates made so that the colonies are
well isolated, the form of the latter, the rate of their growth,
the character of the edge and of the surface, the elevation
and the internal structure as determined by a low-power
lens are often of almost. diagnostic value. Also in the case
of the gelatin plates, the character of the liquefaction
is important. Figs. 157 to 165 show some of the commoner
, characteristics to be noted.
14
CHAPTER XXI.
ANIMAL INOCULATION.
ANIMAL inoculation has been referred to (1) as a method
of assisting in the preparation of pure cultures of patho-
genic organisms; (2) as a means of testing the poisonous
properties of substances produced in bacterial cultures; (3)
in order to test the ability of an organism to cause a disease;
(4) for the production of various antibodies; it may be added
(5) that some bacteria produce in the smaller experimental
animals lesions which do not occur in animals naturally
infected, but which nevertheless are characteristic for the
given organism. The best illustration is the testicular reac-
tion of young male guinea-pigs to intraperitoneal injections
of glanders bacilli. Experimental animals are also inocu-
lated (6) to test the potency of various bacterial and other
biological products, as toxins, antitoxins, ete.
Guinea-pigs are the most widely used experimental
animals because they are easily kept and are susceptible to
so many diseases on artificial inoculation. Rabbits are used
very largely also, as are white mice. For special purposes
white rats, pigeons, goats and swine are necessary. For
commercial products horses (antitoxins) and cattle (small-
pox vaccine) are employed. In the study of many human
diseases the higher monkeys and even the anthropoid apes
are necessary, since none of the lower animals are susceptible.
The commonest method of animal inoculation is undoubt-
edly the subcutaneous. This is accomplished most readily
with the hypodermic needle. The skin at the point selected
(usually in guinea-pigs the lateral posterior half of the
abdominal surface, in mice the back near the root of the
tail) is pinched up to avoid entering the muscles and the
needle quickly inserted. Clipping the hairs and washing
with an antiseptic solution should precede the inoculation
as routine practice. Frequently a small “skin pocket’ is
all that is needed. The hair is clipped off, the skin pinched
up with small forceps and a slight snip with sharp scissors
ANIMAL INOCULATION 211
is made. The material may be inserted into this pocket
with a heavy platinum needle. Cutaneous inoculation is
made by shaving the skin and rubbing the material onto
the shaved surface or scratching with a scalpel or special
searifier, but without drawing blood, and then rubbing in
the material to be inoculated.
Intravenous injections are made with larger animals. In
rabbits the posterior external auricular is a convenient vein.
In larger animals the external jugular is used.
Intraperitoneal, -thoracic, -cardiac, -ocular, -muscular injec-
tions, and injections into the parenchyma of internal organs
are accomplished with the hypodermic needle. In the case
of the first two, injury to contained organs should be care-
fully avoided. Intracardiac injection, or aspiration of the
heart to secure blood, requires considerable practice to be
successful without causing the death of the animal at once
through internal hemorrhage. In subdural injections into
the cranial cavity it is necessary to trephine the skull first,
while such injections into the spinal canal may be accom-
plished between tlie vertebra with needles longer and stronger
than the usual hypodermic needle. Occasionally animals are
caused to inhale the organisms, or are fed cultures mixed
with the feed.
SECURING AND TRANSPORTING MATERIAL FROM
ANIMALS FOR BACTERIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION.
If the site of the lesion is readily accessible from the
exterior, material from the /:ving animal should be collected
with sterile instruments and kept in sterile utensils until the
necessary tests can be made. Testing should be done on
material as soon after collection as possible, in all cases, to
avoid the effects of “decomposition” bacteria.
If the blood is to be investigated it may be aspirated from
a peripheral vein with a sterile hypodermic syringe of appro-
priate size or allowed to flow through a sterile canula into
sterile receptacles. The site of the puncture should be
shaved and disinfected before the instrument is introduced.
Discharges of whatever kind should likewise be collected
in sterile receptacles and examined as soon as may be.
212 ANIMAL INOCULATION
If internal organs are to be examined it is best to kill a
moribund animal than to wait for death, since after death,
and in severe infections even sometimes before, the tissues
are rapidly invaded by saprophytic bacteria from the ali-
mentary and respiratory tracts which complicate greatly
the isolation of the specific organism. Hence the search for
specific bacteria in carcasses or on organs several hours after
death is frequently negative. Animal inoculation with such
material is very often followed by sepsis or septicemia in a
few hours, so that the specific organism has no opportunity
to manifest itself.
In securing material for cultures from internal organs it
is a good plan’ to burn the surface of the organ with a gas
or alcohol flame, or to sear it with a hot instrument to
kill surface organisms, then make the incision or puncture
through the burned area and secure material from the inte-
rior of the organ. Such punctures made with a stiff platinum
needle frequently give pure cultures of the organism sought.
Slides may be made from such material and culture media
inoculated at once
Since a bacteriological diagnosis depends most commonly on
growing the organisms, it is evident that material sent for
examination must never be treated with an antiseptic or pre-
servative. If decomposition is to be feared the only safe pro-
cedure is to pack the material in ice and forward in this way.
Tuberculous material from the parenchyma of internal
organs may be forwarded in a preservative (not formalin,
since this makes it very difficult to stain the bacteria) as in
this special case a very positive diagnosis may be made by
staining alone. Even here it is better to pack in ice in
order that the diagnosis by staining may be confirmed by
inoculating the living organisms into guinea-pigs.
In the case of material from a rabid animal and many
protozoal diseases the rule against preservatives is not abso-
lute, since staining is a reliable diagnostic means. Even
in these cases it is often desirable to inoculate animals,
hence, as before stated, it is best to make it a uniform
practice to pack material for examination in ice and use no
preservatives.
PART IV.
GENERAL PATHOGENIC BACTERI-
OLOGY.
CHAPTER NNXII.
INTRODUCTION.
PaTHOGENIC Bacteriology treats of the unicellular micro-
organisms which are responsible for disease conditions, i. e¢.,
pathological changes in other organisms. Hence not only
are bacteria considered, but also other low vegetable forms,
as yeasts and molds, likewise protozoa insofar as they
may be pathogenic. For this reason the term pathogenic
“Microbiology” has been introduced to include all these
organisms. It is largely for the reason that the methods
devised for the study of bacteria have been applied to the
investigation of other microérganisms that the term “bac-
teriology” was extended to cover the entire field. The
general discussion in this chapter is intended to include,
therefore, niicroérganisms of whatever kind pathogenic to
animals.
The term pathogenic as applied to an organism must be
understood in a purely relative sense, since there is no single
organism that can cause disease in all of a certain class, but
each is limited to a more or less narrow range. Some form
of tuberculosis attacks nearly all vertebrates, but no other
classes of animals and no plants. Lockjaw or tetanus
attacks most mammals, but not any other vertebrates
naturally. Typhoid fever affects human beings; hog cholera,
swine, etc.
Diseases which are due to unicellular pathogenic micro-
organisms are called infectious diseases, while if such diseases
214 INTRODUCTION
are transmitted under natural conditions from organism to
organism they are spoken of as contagious diseases. Most
infectious diseases are contagious but not all. Tetanus is
a good illustration of a non-contagious infectious disease.
There are very few such diseases.
When a unicellular microérganism gains entrance into the
body and brings about any pathological changes there the
result is an infection. Undoubtedly many pathogenic organ-
isms get into the body but never manifest their presence by
causing disease conditions, hence do not cause an infection.
It is the pathological conditions which result that constitute
the infection and not the mere invasion.
The time that elapses between the entrance of the organ-
ism and the appearance of symptoms is called the period of
incubation and varies greatly in different diseases.
The term infestation is used to denote pathological condi-
tions due to multicellular parasites. Thus an animal is
infested (not infected) with tapeworms, roundworms,
lice, mites, etc. Many of these conditions, probably all,
are contagious, 2. ¢., transmissable naturally from animal
to animal. The word contagious has been used in & variety
of ways to mean communicated by direct contact, communi-
cated by a living something (contagium) that might be car-
ried to a distance and finally communicable in any manner,
transmissible. The agency of transmission may be very
roundabout—as through a special tick in Texas fever, a
mosquito in malaria, etc., or by direct personal contact, as
generally in venereal diseases. After all, though exactness
is necessary, it is better to learn all possible about the means
of transmission of diseases, than quibble as to the terms to
be used.
An infectious disease may be acute or chronic. An acute
infection is one which runs for a relatively short time and is
“self-limited,” so-called, 7. e., the organisms cease to mani-
fest their presence after a time. In some acute infections
the time is very short—German measles usually runs five
or six days. Typhoid fever may continue eight to ten
weeks, sometimes longer, yet it is an acute infectious dis-
ease. It is not so much the time as the fact of self-limita-
tion that characterizes acute infections.
INTRODUCTION 215
In chronic infections there is little or no evidence of limi-
tation of the progress of the disease which may continue for.
years. Tuberculosis is usually chronic. Leprosy in man is
practically always so. Glanders in horses is most commonly
chronic; in mules and in man it is more apt to be acute.
Many infections begin acutely and later change to the
chronic type. Syphilis in man is a good illustration.
The differences between acute and chronic infections are
partly due to the nature of the organism, partly to the num-
ber of organisms introduced and the point of their intro-
duction and partly to the resistance of the animal infected.
An infectious disease is said to be specific when one kind
of organism is responsible for its manifestations—as diph-
theria due to the Bacterium diphtherie, lockjaw due to
Bacillus tetani, Texas fever due to the Piroplasma bigeminum,
etc. It is non-specific when it may be due to a variety of
organisms, as enteritis (generally), bronchopneumonia, wound
infections.
Henle, as early as 1840, stated certain principles that
must be established. before a given organism can be accepted
as the cause of a specific disease. These were afterward
restated by Koch, and have come to be known as “ Koch’s
postulates.”” They may be stated as follows:
1. The given organism must be found in all cases of the
disease in question.
2. No other organism must be found in all cases.
3. The organism must, when obtained in pure culture,
reproduce the disease in susceptible animals.
4. It must be recovered from such animals in pure cul-
ture and this culture likewise reproduce the disease.
These postulates have not been fully met with reference
to any disease, but the principles embodied have been applied
as far as possible in all those infections which we recognize
as specific, and whose causative agent is accepted. In many
recognized infectious and contagious diseases no organism
has been found which is regarded as the specific cause. In
some of these the organism appears to be too small to be
seen with the highest powers of the microscope, hence they
are called “ultramicroscopic” organisms. Because these
agents pass through the finest bacterial filters, they are also
216 INTRODUCTION
frequently called “filterable.” The term “virus” or “ filter-
_able virus” is likewise applied to these “ ultra-microscopic”
and “‘filterable” agents.
The term primary infection is sometimes applied to
the first manifestation of a disease, either specific or non-
specific, while secondary refers to later developments. For
example, a secondary general infection may follow a
primary wound infection, or primary lung tuberculosis
be followed by secondary generalized tuberculosis, or
primary typhoid fever by a secondary pneumonia. Where
several organisms seem to be associated simultaneously in
causing the condition then the term mixed infection is used—
in severe diphtheria, streptococci are commonly associated
with the Bacterium diphtherie. In many cases of hog-
cholera, mixed infections in the lungs and in the intestines
are common. Wound infections are usually mized. Auto-
infection refers to those conditions in which an organism
commonly present in or on the body in a latent or harmless
condition gives rise to an infectious process. If the Bacillus
coli normal to the intestine escapes into the peritoneal cavity,
or passes into the bladder, a severe peritonitis or cystitis,
respectively, is apt to result. ‘Boils’ and “pimples’’ are
frequently autoinfections. Such infections are also spoken
of as endogenous to distinguish them from those due to
the entrance of organisms from without—exogenous infec-
tions. Relapses are usually instances of autoinfection.
Those types of secondary infection where the infecting
agent is transferred from one disease focus to another or
several other points and sets up the infection there are
sometimes called metastases. Such are the transfer of
tubercle bacilli from lung to intestine, spleen, etc., the for-
mation of abscesses in internal organs following a primary
surface abscess, the appearance of glanders nodules through-
out various organs following pulmonary glanders, etc.
The characteristic of a pathogenic microérganism which
indicates its ability to cause disease is called its virulence.
Ii slightly virulent, the effect is slight, if highly virulent, the
effect is severe, may be fatal.
On the other hand, the characteristic of the host which
indicates its capacity for infection is called susceptibility.
INTRODUCTION 217
If slightly susceptible, infection is slight, if highly suscep-
tible, the infection is severe.
Evidently the degree of infection is dependent in large
measure on the relation between the virulence of the in-
vading crganism and the susceptibility of the host. High
virulence and great susceptibility mean a severe infection;
low virulence and little susceptibility, a slight infection;
while high virulence and little susceptibility or low viru-
lence and great susceptibility might mean a moderate infec-
tion varying in either direction. Other factors influencing
the degree of infection are the number of organisms intro-
duced, the point where they are introduced and various
conditions. These will be discussed in another connection
(Chapter XXV).
The study of pathogenic bacteriology includes the thor-
ough study of the individual organisms according to the
methods already given (Chapters XVIII-XXJ) as an aid to
diagnosis and subsequent treatment, bacteriological or other,
in a given disease. Of far greater importance than the
treatment, which in most infectious diseases is not specific,
is the prevention and ultimate eradication of all infectious
diseases. To accomplish these objects involves further a
study of the conditions under which pathogenic organisms
exist outside the body, the paths of entrance into and elimina-
tion from the body and those agencies within the body itself
which make it less susceptible to infection or overcome the
infective agent after its introduction. That condition of the
body itself which prevents any manifestation of a virulent
pathogenic organism after it has been once introduced is.
spoken of asimmunity in the modern sense. Immunity is thus
the opposite of susceptibility and may exist in varying degrees.
That scientists are and have been for some years in posses-
sion of sufficient knowledge to permit of the prevention and
eradication of most, if not all, of our infectious diseases can
scarcely be questioned. The practical application of this
knowledge presents many difficulties, the chief of which is
the absence of a public sufficiently enlightened to permit the
expenditure of the necessary funds. Time and educative
effort alone can surmount this difficulty. It will probably
be years yet, but it will certainly be accomplished.
CHAPTER XXIII.
PATHOGENIC BACTERIA OUTSIDE THE BODY.
PATHOGENIC bacteria may exist. outside the body of the
host under a variety of conditions as follows:
I. In or on inanimate objects or material.
(a) As true saprophytes.
(b) As facultative saprophytes.
(c) Though obligate parasites, they exist in a latent
state.
II. In or on other animals, or products from them:
(a) Sick themselves.
(b) Recovered from illness but carrying the organisms.
(c) Never sick with the disease but carrying the
organisms.
(d) Serving as necessary intermediate hosts for cer-
tain stages of the parasite—this applies to
protozoal diseases only, as yet.
I. (a) The bacilli of tetanus and malignant edema are .
widely distributed. There is no evidence that their entrance
into the body is at all necessary for the continuation of their
life processes, or that one case of either of these diseases
ever has any connection with any other case; they are true
saprophytes. Manifestly it would be futile to attempt to
prevent or eradicate such diseases by attacking the organ-
ism in its natural habitat. Bacillus botulinus, which causes
a type of meat poisoning in man, does not even multiply
in the body, but the disease symptoms are due to a soluble
toxin which is produced during its growth outside the body.
(b) Organisms. like the bacterium of anthrax and the
bacillus of black-leg from their local occurrence seem to be
distributed from animals infected, though capable of living
a saprophytic existence outside the body for years. These
can no more be attacked during their saprophytic existence
PATHOGENIC BACTERIA OUTSIDE THE BODY 219
than those just mentioned. Doubtless in warm seasons of
the year and in the tropics other organisms pathogenic to
animals may live and multiply in water or in damp soil
where conditions are favorable, just as the cholera organism
in India, and occasionally the typhoid bacillus in témperate
climates do.
(c) Most pathogenic organisms, however, when they are
thrown off from the bodies of animals, remain quiescent, do
not multiply, in fact always tend to die out from lack of all
that is implied in a ‘favorable environment,” food, moisture,
temperature, light, etc. Disinfection is sometimes effective
in this class of diseases in preventing new cases.
II. (a) The most common infectious diseases of animals
are transmitted more or less directly from other animals of
the same species. Human beings get nearly all their dis-
eases from other human beings who are sick; horses, from
other horses; cattle, from other cattle; swine, from swine,
etc. Occasionally transmission from one species to another
occurs. Tuberculosis of swine most frequently results from
feeding them milk of tuberculous cattle or from their eating
the droppings of such cattle. Human beings contract
anthrax from wool, hair and hides of animals dead of the
disease, or from postmortems on such animals; glanders
from horses; tuberculosis (in children) from tuberculous
milk; bubonic plague from rats, etc. The mode of limiting
this class of diseases is evidently to isolate the sick, dis-
infect their discharges and their immediate surroundings,
sterilize such products as must be handled or used, kill
dangerous animals, and disinfect, bury properly, or destroy
their carcasses.
(b) This class of “carriers” offers one of the most difficult
problems in preventing infectious diseases. A perfectly
healthy individual may give off dangerous organisms and
infect others for years. Typhoid carriers have been known
to do so for fifty-five years. Cholera, diphtheria, menin-
gitis and other carriers are well known in human practice.
The difficulty in detecting such individuals is obvious.
Carriers among animals have not been so frequently demon-
strated, but there is every reason for thinking that hog-
2290 PATHOGENIC BACTERIA OUTSIDE THE BODY
cholera, distemper, roup, influenza and other carriers are
common. Carriers furnish the explanation for many of the
so-called “spontaneous” outbreaks of disease among men
and animals.
(c) In this class come the “accidental carriers” like flies,
fleas, lice, bed-bugs, ticks and other biting and_blood-
sucking insects, vultures, buzzards, foxes, rats and carrion-
eating animals generally; pet animals in the household, ete.
Here the animals are not susceptible to the given disease
but become contaminated with the organisms and then
through defilement of the food or drink, or contact with
individuals or with utensils pass the organisms on to the
susceptible. Some biting and blood-sucking insects transmit
the organisms through biting infected and non-infected ani-
mals successively. The spirilloses and trypanosomiases seem
to be transmitted in this way, though there is evidence
accumulating which may place these diseases in the next
class. Anthrax is considered in some instances to be trans-
mitted by flies and by vultures in the southern United States.
Typhoid transmission by flies is well established in man.
Why not hog-cholera from farm to farm by flies, English
sparrows, pigeons feeding, or by turkey buzzards? Though
this would not be easy to prove, it seems reasonable.
Preventing contact of such animals with the discharges
or with the carcasses of those dead of the disease, destruc-
tion of insect carriers, screening and prevention of fly ee
ing are obvious protective measures.
(d) In this class come certain diseases for which sag:
lar insects are necessary for the parasite in question, so that
certain stages in its life history may be passed therein. The
most certain means for eradicating such diseases is the
destruction of the insects concerned. Up to the present no
bacterial disease is known in which this condition exists, unless
Rocky Mountain spotted fever and typhus fever shall prove
to be due to bacteria. Such diseases are all due to protdézoa.
Among them are Texas fever, due to Piroplasma bigeminum
in this country which has been eradicated in entire districts
by destruction of the cattle tick (Margaropus annulatus).
Piroplasmoses in South Africa among cattle and horses,
PATHOGENIC BACTERIA OUTSIDE THE BODY 221
and in other countries are transmitted in similar ways. Prob-
ably many of the diseases due to spirochetes and trypano-
somes are likewise transmitted by necessary insect inter-
mediaries. In human medicine the eradication of yellow
fever from Panama and Cuba is due to successful warfare
against a certain mosquito (Stegomyia). So the freeing of
large areas in different parts of the world from malaria
follows the destruction of the mosquitoes. The campaign
against disease in animals and man from insect sources
must be considered as still in its infancy. The full utiliza-
tion of tropical lands depends largely on the solution of this
problem.
CHAPTER XXIV.
PATHS OF ENTRANCE OF PATHOGENIC
ORGANISMS,
OR
CHANNELS OF INFECTION.
1. The Skin.—If the skin is healthy there is no oppor-
tunity for bacteria to penetrate it. It is protected not
only by the stratified epithelium, but also in various animals,
by coats of hair, wool, feathers, etc. The secretion pressure
of the healthy sweat and oil glands acts as an effective bar
even to motile bacteria. Nevertheless a very slight injury
only is sufficient to give normal surface parasites and other
pathogenics, accidentally or purposely brought in contact
with it, an opportunity for more rapid growth and even
entrance for general infection. Certain diseases due to
higher fungi are characteristically “skin diseases” and rarely
become general—various forms of Favus, Trychophyton in-
fections, etc. A few disease organisms, tetanus, malignant
edema, usually get in through the skin; others, black-leg,
anthrax, quite commonly; and those diseases transmitted
by biting and blood-sucking insects, piroplasmoses, trypano-
somiases, spirilloses, scarcely in any other way. Defective
secretion in the skin glands from other causes, may permit
lodgment and growth of bacteria in them or in the hair
follicles. ‘“ Pimples” and boils in man and local abscesses occa-
sionally in animals are illustrations. Sharp-edged and freely
bleeding wounds are less liable to be infected than contu-
sions, ragged wounds, burns, etc. The flowing blood washes
out the wound and the clotting seals it, while there’ is less
material to be repaired by the leukocytes and they are free
THE SKIN 223
to care for invading organisms (phagocytosis). Pathogenic
organisms, especially pus cocci, frequently gain lodgment in
the milk glands and cause local (mastitis) or general infection.
_B. Mucose directly continuous with the skin and lined with
stratified epithelium are commonly well protected thereby and
by the secretions.
(a) The external auditory meatus is rarely the seat of even
local infection. The tympanic cavity is normally sterile,
though it may become infected by extension through the
Eustachian tube from the pharynx (otitis media).
(b) The conjunctiva is frequently the seat of localized,
very rarely the point of entrance for a generalized infection,
except after severe injury.
(c) The nasal cavity, on account of its anatomical structure
retains pathogenic organisms which give rise to local infec-
tions more frequently than other mucose of its character.
These may extend from here to middle ear, neighboring
sinuses, or along the lymph spaces of the olfactory nerve
into the cranial cavity (meningitis). Acute coryza (‘‘colds”
in man) is characteristic. Glanders, occasionally, is primary
in the nose, as is probably roup in chickens, leprosy in man.
The meningococcus and the virus of poliomyelitis pass from
the nose into the cranial cavity without local lesions in the
former.
(d) The mouth cavity is ordinarily protected by its epi-
thelium and secretions, though the injured mucosa is a
common source of actinomycosis infection, as well as thrush.
In foot-and-mouth disease no visible lesions seem necessary
to permit the localization of the unknown infective agent.
(e) The tonsils afford a ready point of entrance for ever-
present micrococct and streptococci whenever occasion offers
(follicular tonsilitis, “quinsy”), and articular rheumatism is
not an uncommon sequel. The diphtheria bacillus charac-
teristically seeks these structures for its development.
Tubercle and anthrax organisms occasionally enter here.
(f) The pharynx is the seat of localized infection as in
miacrococcal, streptococcal and diphtherial “sore throat” in
human beings, but both it and the esophagus are ‘rarely
infected in animals except as the result of injury.
224. ENTRANCE OF PATHOGENIC ORGANISMS
(g) The external genitalia are the usual points of entrance
for the venereal organisms in man (gonococcus, Treponema
pallidum, and Ducrey’s bacillus). The bacillus of contagious
abortion and probably the trypanosome of dourine are
commonly introduced through these channels in animals.
C, Lungs.—The varied types of pneumonia due to many
different organisms (tubercle, glanders, influenza, plague
bacilli, pneumococcus, streptococcus, micrococcus and many
others) show how frequently these organs are the seat of a
localized infection, which may or may not be general.
Whether the lungs are the actual point of entrance in these
cases is a question which is much discussed at the present
time, particularly with reference to tuberculosis. The
mucous secretion of the respiratory tract tends to catch
incoming bacteria and other small particles and the ciliary
movement along bronchial tubes and trachea tends to carry
such material out. ‘‘ Foreign body pneumonia’’ shows clini-
cally, and many observers have shown experimentally that
microérganisms may reach the alveoli even though the
exchange of air between them and the bronchioles and larger
bronchi takes place ordinarily only by diffusion. The pres-
ence of carbon particles in the walls of the alveoli in older
animals and human beings and in those that breathe dusty
air. for long periods indicates strongly, though it does not
prove absolutely, that these came in with inspired air. On
the other hand, experiment. has shown -that tubercle bacilli
introduced into the intestine may appear in the lungs and
cause disease there and not in the intestine. It is probably
safe to assume that in those diseases which are transmitted
most readily through close association though not neces-
sarily actual contact, the commonest path is through the
lungs, which may or may not show lesions (smallpox, scar-
let fever, measles, chicken-pox, whooping-cough, pneumonic
plague in man, lobar and bronchopneumonias and influenza
in man and animals, some cases of glanders and tubercu-
losis). On the other hand, the fact that the Bacillus typhosus
and. Bacillus coli may cause pneumonia when they evi-
dently have reached the lung from the intestinal tract, and
the experimental evidence of lung tuberculosis above men-
DISSEMINATION OF ORGANISMS 225
tioned show that this route cannot be excluded in inflam-
mations of the lung.
D. Alimentary Tract.—The alimentary tract affords the
ordinary path of entrance for the causal microbes of many
of the diseases of animals and man, since they are carried
into the body most commonly and most abundantly in the
food and drink.
(a) The stomach is rarely the seat of local infection, even
in ruminants, except as the result of trauma. The character
of the epithelium in the rumen, reticulum and omasum in
ruminants, the hydrochloric acid in the abomasum and in
the stomachs of animals generally are usually sufficient pro-
tection. Occasionally anthrax “pustules” develop in the
gastric mucosa. (The author saw nine such pustules in a
case of anthrax in a man.)
(b) The intestines are frequently the seat of localized
infections, as various “choleras” and “dysenteries” in men
and many animals, anthrax, tuberculosis, Johne’s disease.
Here doubtless enter the organisms causing “hemorrhagic
septicemias” in many classes of animals, and many others.
These various organisms must have passed through the
stomach and the question at once arises, why did the HCl
not destroy them? It must be remembered that the acid
is present only during stomach digestion, and that liquids
taken on an “empty stomach” pass through rapidly and
any organisms present are not subjected to the action of
the acid. Also spores generally resist the acid. Other
organisms may pass through the stomach within masses of
undigested food. The fact that digestion is going on in the
stomach of ruminants practically all the time may explain
the relative freedom of adult animals of this class from
““choleras” and ‘“dysenteries.”
Dissemination of Organisms.—Dissemination of organisms
within the tissues occurs either through the lymph channels
or the bloodvessels or both. If through the lymph vessels
only it is usually much more restricted in extent, or much
more slowly disseminated, while blood dissemination is
characterized by the number of organs involved simul-
taneously.
15
226 ENTRANCE OF PATHOGENIC ORGANISMS
PATHS OF ELIMINATION OF PATHOGENIC MICRO-
ORGANISMS.
I. Directly from the point of injury, This is true in
infected wounds open to the surface, skin glanders (farcy),
black-leg, surface anthrax; exanthemata in man and animals
[scarlet fever (?), measles (?), smallpox; hog erysipelas, foot-
and-mouth disease]. Also in case of disease of mucous mem-
branes continuous with the skin—from nasal discharges
(glanders), saliva (foot-and-mouth disease), material coughed
or sneezed out (tuberculosis, influenza, pneumonias), ure-
thral and vaginal discharges (gonorrhea and syphilis in man,
contagious abortion and dourine in animals), intestinal dis-
charges (typhoid fever, “choleras,” “dysenteries,” anthrax,
tuberculosis, Johne’s disease). Material from nose, mouth
and lungs may be swallowed and the organisms passed out
through the intestines.
II. Indirectly through the secretions and the excretions
where the internal organs are involved. The saliva of rabid
animals contains the ultra-microscopic virus of rabies (the
sympathetic ganglia within the salivary glands, and pan-
creas also, are affected in this disease as well as the cells of
the central nervous system). The gall-bladder in man is
known to harbor colon and typhoid bacilli, as that of hog--
cholera hogs does the virus of this disease. It may harbor
analogous organisms in other animals, though such knowl-
edge is scanty. The kidneys have been shown experimen-
tally to excrete certain organisms introduced into the circu-
lation within a few minutes (micrococci, colon and typhoid
bacilli, anthrax). Typhoid bacilli occur in the urine of
typhoid-fever patients in about 25 per cent. of all cases and
the urine of hogs with hog cholera is highly virulent. Most
observers are of the opinion, however, that under natural
conditions the kidneys do not excrete bacteria unless they
themselves are infected.
The milk both of tuberculous cattle and tuberculous women
has been shown to contain tubercle bacilli even when the
mammary glands are not involved.
LOCATION OF INFECTIVE ORGANISMS 227
SPECIFICITY OF LOCATION OF INFECTIVE ORGANISMS.
It is readily apparent that certain disease organisms tend
to locate themselves in definite regions and the question
arises, Is this due to any specific relationship between organ-
ism and tissue or not? Diphtheria in man usually attacks
the tonsils first, gonorrhea and syphilis the external geni-
tals, tuberculosis the lung apex (in man most commonly),
“choleras” the small intestine, “dysenteries” the large
intestine, influenza the lungs. In these cases the explana-
tion is probably that the points attacked are the places
where the organism is most commonly carried, with no
specific relationship, since all of these organisms (Asiatic
cholera, excepted) also produce lesions in other parts of the
body when they reach them. On the other hand, the virus of
hydrophobia attacks nerve cells, leprosy frequently singles
out nerves, glanders bacilli introduced into the abdominal
cavity of a young male guinea-pig cause an inflammation
of the testicle, malarial parasites and piroplasms attack the
red blood corpuscles, etc. In these cases there is apparently
a real chemical relationship, as there is also between the
toxins of bacteria and certain tissue cells (tetanus toxin and
nerve cells). Whether “chemotherapy” will ever profit
from a knowledge of such chemical relationships remains
to be developed.
CHAPTER XXV.
IMMUNITY.
Immunity, as has already been stated, implies such a con-
dition of the body that pathogenic organisms after they
have been introduced are incapable of manifesting them-
selves, are unable to cause disease. The word has taken the
place of the earlier term, resistance, and is the opposite of
susceptibility. The term must be understood always in a
relative sense, since no animal is immune to all pathogenic
organisms, and conceivably not entirely so to anyone, since
there is no question that a sufficient number of bacteria of
any kind might be injected into the circulation to kill an
animal, even though it did it purely mechanically.
Immunity may be considered with reference to a single
individual or to entire divisions of the organic world, with
all grades between. Thus plants are immune to the diseases
affecting animals; invertebrates to vertebrate diseases; cold-
blooded animals to those of warm blood; man is immune
to most of the diseases affecting other mammals; the rat to
anthrax, which affects other rodents and most mammals;
the well-known race of Algerian sheep is likewise immune
to anthrax while other sheep are susceptible; the negro
appears more resistant to yellow fever than the white; some.
few individuals in a herd of hogs always escape an epizootic
of hog cholera, etc.
Immunity within a given species is modified by a number
of factors—age, state of nutrition, extremes of heat or cold,
fatigue, excesses of any kind, in fact, anything which tends
to lower the “normal healthy tone” of an animal also tends
to lower its resistance. Children appear more susceptible
to scarlet fever, measles, whooping-cough, etc., than adults;
young cattle more frequently have black-leg than older ones
IMMUNITY 229
(these apparently greater susceptibilities may be due in part
to the fact that most of the older individuals have had the
diseases when young and are immune for this reason). Ani-
mals weakened by hunger or thirst succumb to infection
more readily. Frogs and chickens are immune to tetanus,
but if the former be put in water and warmed up to and
kept at about 37°, and the latter be chilled for several hours
in ice-water, then each may be infected. Pneumonia fre-
quently follows exposure to cold. The immune rat may be
given anthrax if first he is made to run in a “squirrel cage”
until exhausted. Alcoholics are far less resistant to infec-
tion than temperate individuals. “Worry,” mental anguish,
tend to predispose to infection.
The following outlines summarize the different classifi-
cations of immunity so far as mammals are concerned for
the purposes of discussion:
Immunity. :
| 1. Inherited through the germ cell or cells.
i (a) By having the
A. Congenital A :
I. Natural disease in utero.
| 2. Acquired in utero. } (b) By absorption
of immune _ sub-
| B. Acquired by having the disease. stances from the
mother.
II. Artificial—acquired through human agency by:
1. Introduction of the organism or its products.
2. Introduction of the blood serum of an immune animal.
Immunity.
I. Active—due to the introduction of the organism or due to the intro-
duction of the products of the organism.
A. Naturally by having the disease.
B. Artificially.
1. By introducing the organism:
1. Passage through another animal.
(a) Alive and virulent. 2. Drying.
7 ; 3. Growing at a higher temperature.
() ee 4. Heating the cultures.
reduced py 5. Treating with chemicals.
(c) Dead. erie
6. Sensitizing.
7. Cultivation on artificial media.
2. By introducing the products of the organism.
II. Passive—due to the introduction of the blood serum of an actively
immunized animal.
230 IMMUNITY
Immunity present in an animal and not due to human
interference is to be regarded as natural immunity, while if
brought about by man’s effort it is considered artificial.
Those cases of natural immunity mentioned above which
are common to divisions, classes, orders, families, species or
races of organisms and to those few individuals where no
special cause is discoverable, must be regarded as instances
of true inheritance through the germ cell as other char-
acteristics are. All other kinds of immunity are acquired.
Occasionally young are born with every evidence that they
have had a disease in utero and are thereafter as immune as
though the attack had occurred after birth (“smallpox
babies,” “hog-cholera pigs’). Experiment has shown that
immune substances may pass from the blood of the mother
to the fetus 7m utero and the young be immune for a time
after birth (tetanus). It is a familiar fact that with most
infectious diseases recovery from one attack confers a more
or less lasting immunity, though there are marked excep-
tions.
Active Immunity.—By active immunity is meant that
which is due to the actual introduction of the organism, or
in some cases of its products. The term active is used because
the body cells of the animal immunized perform the real
‘work of bringing about the immunity as will be discussed
later. In passive immunity the blood serum of an actively
immunized animal is introduced into a second animal,
which thereupon becomes immune, though its cells are not
concerned in the process. The animal is passive, just as a
test-tube, in which a reaction takes place, plays no other
part than that of a passive container for the reagents.
In active immunity the organism may be introduced in
what is to be considered a natural manner, as when an ani-
mal becomes infected, has a disease, without human intér-
ference. Or the organism may be purposely introduced to
bring about the immunity. For certain purposes the intro-
duction of the products of the organism (toxins) is used to
bring about active immunity (preparation of diphtheria and
tetanus antitoxin from the horse). The method of produc-
ing active immunity by ,the artificial introduction of the
ACTIVE IMMUNITY 231
organism is called vaccination, and a vaccine must therefore
contain the organism. Vaccines for bacterial diseases are
frequently called bacterins. The use of the blood serum of
an immunized animal to confer passive immunity on a
second animal is properly called serum therapy, and the
serum so used is spoken of as an antiserum, though the latter
word is also used to denote any serum containing any kind
of an antibody (Chapters XXVIJ-XXXI). Ina few instances
both the organism and an antiserum are used to cause both
active and passive immunity (serum-simultaneous method in
immunizing against hog cholera).
In producing active immunity the organism may be intro-
duced (a) alive and virulent, but in very small doses, or in
combination with an immune serum, as just mentioned for
hog cholera. The introduction of the live virulent organism
alone is done only experimentally as yet, as it is obviously
too dangerous to do in practice, except under the strictest
control (introduction of a single tubercle bacillus, followed
by gradually increasing numbers—Barber and Webb). More
commonly the organisms are introduced (b) alive but with
their virulence reduced (“attenuated’’) in one of several ways:
(1) By passing the organism through another animal as is
the case with smallpox vaccine derived from a calf or heifer.
(2) By drying the organism, as is done in the preparation of
the vaccine for the Pasteur treatment of rabies, where the
spinal cords of rabbits are dried for varying lengths of time—
one to four days, Russian method, one to three days, German
method, longer in this country. (It is probable that the
passage of the “fixed virus” through the rabbit is as impor-
tant in this procedure as the drying, since it is doubtful if the
“fixed virus” is pathogenic for man.) (8) The organism
may be attenuated by growing at a temperature above the
normal. This is the method used in preparing anthrax vac-
cine as done by Pasteur originally. (4) Instead of growing
at a higher temperature the culture may be heated in such
a way that it is not killed but merely weakened. Black-leg
vaccines are made by this method. (5) Chemicals are some-
times added to attenuate the organisms, as was formerly
done in the preparation of black-leg vaccine by Kruse’s
232 IMMUNITY
method in Germany. This method is no longer used to any
great extent. (6) Within the past few years the workers in
the Pasteur Institute in Paris have been experimenting with
vaccines prepared’ by treating living virulent bacteria with
antisera (‘sensitizing them”) so that they are no longer
capable of causing the disease when introduced, but do
cause the production of an active immunity. The method
has been used with typhoid fever bacilli in man and seems
to be successful. It remains to be tried out further before
its worth is demonstrated (the procedure is more compli-
cated and the chance for infection apparently much greater
than by the use of killed cultures). (7) Growing on artifi-
cial culture media reduces the virulence of most organisms
after a longer or shorter time. This method has been tried
with many organisms in the laboratory, but is not now used
in practice. The difficulties are that the attenuation is very
uncertain and that the organisms tend to regain their
virulence when introduced into the body.
In producing active immunity against many bacterial
diseases the organisms are introduced (c) dead. They are
killed by heat or by chemicals, or by using both methods
(Chapter XXX).
When the products of an organism are introduced the
resulting immunity is against the products only and not
against the organism. If the organism itself is introduced
there results an immunity against it and in some cases also
against the products, though the latter does not necessarily
follow. Hence the immunity may be antibacterial or anti-
toxic or both.
Investigation as to the causes of immunity and the various
methods by which it is produced has not resulted in the dis-
covery of specific methods of treatment for as many dis-
eases as was hoped for at one time. Just at present progress
in serum therapy appears to be at a standstill, though vac-
cines are giving good results in many instances not believed
possible a few years ago. As a consequence workers in all
parts of the world are giving more and more attention to
the search for specific chemical substances, which will destroy
invading parasites and not injure the host (Chemotherapy).
ACTIVE IMMUNITY 233
Nevertheless, in the study of immunity very much of value
in the treatment and prevention of disease has been learned.
Also much knowledge which is of the greatest use in other
lines has been accumulated. Methods of diagnosis of great
exactness have resulted, applicable in numerous diseases.
Ways of detecting adulterations in foods, particularly foods
from animal sources, and of differentiating proteins of varied
origin, as well as means of establishing biological relation-
ships and differences among groups of animals through
“Immunity reactions” of blood serums have followed from
knowledge gained by application of the facts or the methods
of immunity research. Hence the study of “immunity
problems”’ has come to include much more than merely the
study of those factors which prevent the development of
disease in an animal or result in its spontaneous recovery.
A proper understanding of the principles of immunity neces-
sitates a study of these various features and they will be
considered in the discussion to follow.
4
CHAPTER XXVI.
THEORIES OF IMMUNITY.
Pasteur and the bacteriologists of his time discovered
that bacteria cease to grow in artificial culture media after
a time, because of the exhaustion of the food material in
some cases and because of the injurious action of their own
products in other instances. These facts were brought for-
ward to explain immunity shortly after bacteria were shown
to be the cause of certain diseases. Theories based on these
observations were called (1) “Exhaustion Theory’’ of Pasteur,
and (2) “ Noxious Retention Theory’ of Chauveaw respec-
tively. The fact, soon discovered, that virulent pathogenic
bacteria are not uncommonly present in perfectly healthy
animals, and the later discovery that immunity may be
conferred by the injection of dead bacteria have led to the
abandonment of both these older ideas. The (3) “ Unfavor-
able Environment” theory of Baumgirtner, i. e., bacteria
do not grow in the body and produce disease because their
surroundings are not suitable, in a sense, covers the whole
ground, though it is not true as to the first part, as was
pointed out above, and is of no value as a working basis,
since it offers no explanation as to what the factors are that
constitute the “unfavorable environment.” Metchnikoff
brought forward a rational explanation of immunity with
his (4) “Cellular or Phagocytosis Theory.” As first pro-
pounded it based immunity on the observed fact that cer-
tain white blood corpuscles, phagocytes, engulf and destroy
bacteria. Metchnikoff has since elaborated the original
theory to explain facts of later discovery. Ehrlich soon after
published his (5) “Chemical or Side-chain Theory” which
seeks to explain immunity on the basis of chemical substances
in the body which may in part destroy pathogenic organ-
isms or in part neutralize their products; or in some instances
PAUL EHRLICH
THEORIES OF IMMUNITY 235
there may be an absence of certain chemical substances
in the body cells so that bacteria or their products cannot
unite with the cells and hence can do no damage.
At the present time it is generally accepted, in this coun-
try at least, that Ehrlich’s theory explains immunity in
many diseases as well as many of the phenomena related to
immunity, and in other diseases the phagocytes, frequently
assisted by chemical substances, are the chief factors. Spe-
cific instances are discussed in Pathogenic Bacteriologies
which should be consulted. It is essential that the student
should be familiar with the basic ideas of the chemical theory,
not only from the standpoint of immunity, but also in order
to understand the principles of a number of valuable methods
of diagnosis.
The chemical theory rests on three fundamental physi-
ological principles: (1) the response of cells to stimuli, in this
connection specific chemical ‘stimuli, (2) the presence within
cells of specific chemical groups which combine with chemi-
cal stimuli and thus enable them to act on the cell, which
groups Ehrlich has named receptors, and (3) the “over-
production” activity of cells as announced by Weigert.
1. That cells respond to stimuli is fundamental in physi-
ology. These stimuli may be of many kinds as mechanical,
electrical, light, chemical, etc. Chemical stimuli are well
illustrated along the digestive tract. That the chemical
stimuli in digestion may be more or less specific is shown by
the observed differences in the enzymes of the pancreatic
juice dependent on the relative amounts of carbohydrates,
fats, or proteins in the food, the specific enzyme in each case
being increased in the juice with increase of its corresponding
foodstuff. The cells of the body, or certain of them at
least, seem to respond in a specific way when proteins or
substances closely related to them are brought into direct
contact with them, that is, without having been subjected
to digestion in the alimentary tract, but injected directly
into the blood or lymph stream. Cells may be affected by
stimuli in one of three ways: if the stimulus is too weak,
there is no effect (in reality there is no “stimulus” acting);
if the stimulus is too strong, the cell is injured, may be
236 THEORIES OF IMMUNITY
destroyed; if the’ stimulus is of proper amount then it excites
the cell to increased activity, and in the case of specific
chemical stimuli the increased activity, as mentioned for
the pancreas, shows itself in an increased production of what-
ever rs called forth by the chemical stimulus. In the case of
the proteins and related bodies, the substances produced by
the cells under their direct stimulation are markedly specific
for the particular substance introduced.
2. Since chemical action always implies at least two
bodies to react, Ehrlich assumes that in every cell which is
affected by a chemical stimulus there must therefore be a
chemical group to unite with this stimulus. He further
states that there must be as many different kinds of these
groups as there are different kinds of chemicals which stimu-
late the cell. Since these groups are present in the body
cells primarily to take up different kinds of food material,
Ehrlich calls them receptors. Since these groups must be
small as compared with the cell as a whole, and must-be
more or less on the surface and unite readily with chemical
substances he further speaks of them as “side-chains” after
the analogy of compounds of the aromatic series especially.
The term receptors is now generally used. As was. stated
above, the effect of specific chemical stimuli is to cause the
production of more of the particular substance for which it is
specific and in the class of bodies under discussion, proteins
and their allies, the particular product is these cell receptors
with which the chemical may unite.
3. Weigert first called attention to the practically con-
stant phenomenon that cells ordinarily respond by doing
more of a particular response than is ctually called for by
the stimulus, that there is always an “overproduction” of
activity. In the case of chemical stimuli this means an
increased production of the specific substance over and above
the amount actually needed. Whenever a cell accumulates
an excess of products the normal result is that it excretes
them from its own substance into the surrounding lymph,
whence they reach the blood stream to be either carried to
the true excretory organs, utilized by other cells or remain
. for a longer or shorter time in the blood.
THEORIES OF IMMUNITY 237
To recapitulate, Ehrlich’s theory postulates specific chemi-
cal stimuli, which react with specific chemical substances in
the body cells, named receptors, and that these receptors,
according to Weigert, are produced in excess and hence are
excreted from the cell and become free receptors in the blood
and lymph. These free receptors are the various kinds of
antibodies, the kind depending on the nature of the stimulus,
the substance introduced. Any substance which when
introduced into the body causes the formation of an anti-
body of any kind whatsoever is called an antigen, 7. e., anti
(body) former.
If the three fundamental principles just discussed are
thoroughly understood, the theory of the formation of
different kinds of antibodies should not be difficult to
comprehend.
CHAPTER XXVII.
RECEPTORS OF THE FIRST ORDER.
ANTITOXINS—ANTIENZYMES.
TuE general characteristics of toxins have been described
(Chapter XII). It has been stated that they are more or
less specific in their action on cells. In order to affect a cell
it is evident that a toxin must enter into chemical combina-
tion with it. This implies that the toxin molecule possesses
a chemical group which can combine with the cell. This
group is called the haptophore or combining group. The
toxic or injurious portion of the toxin molecule is likewise
spoken of as the toxophore group. When a toxin is intro-
duced into the body its haptophore group combines with
suitable receptors in different cells of the body. If not too
much of the toxin is given, instead of injuring, it acts as a
chemical stimulus to the cell in the manner already described.
The cell in response produces more of the specific thing,
which in this instance is more receptors which can combine
with the toxin, 7. e., with its haptophore group. If the stim-
ulus is kept up, more and more of these receptors are pro-
duced until an excess for the cell accumulates, which excess
is excreted from the individual cell and becomes free in the
blood. These free receptors have, of course, the capacity
to combine with toxin through its haptophore group. When
the toxin is combined with these free receptors, it cannot
combine with any other receptors, e. g., those in another
cell and hence cannot injure another cell. These free recep- '
tors constitute, in this case, antitoxin, so-called because they
can combine with toxin and hence neutralize it. Antitoxins
are specific—that is, an antitoxin which will combine with
the toxin of Bacillus tetani will not combine with that of
Bacterium diphtherie, or of Bacillus botulinus, or of any
other toxin, vegetable or animal.
ANTITOXINS—ANTIENZY MES 239
When a toxin is kept in solution for some time or when it
is heated above a certain temperature (different for each
toxin) it loses its poisonous character. It may be shown,
however, that it is still capable of uniting with antitoxin,
and preventing the latter from uniting with a fresh toxin.
This confirms the hypothesis that a toxin molecule has at
least two groups: a combining or haptophore, and a poison-
ing or toxophore group. A toxin which has lost its poisonous
property, its toxophore group, is spoken of as a toxoid. The
theory of antitoxin formation is further supported by the
fact that the proper introduction of toxoid, the haptophore
group, and hence the real stimulus, can cause the production
of antitoxin to a certain extent at least.
The close relationship between toxins and enzymes has
already been pointed out. This is still further illustrated
by the fact that when enzymes are properly introduced into
the tissues of an animal there is formed in the animal an
antienzyme specific for the enzyme in question which can
prevent its action. The structure of enzymes, as composed
of a haptophore, or uniting, and a zymophore or digesting
(or other activity) group, is similar to that of toxins, and
enzymoids or enzymes which can combine with the substance
acted on but not affect it further have been demonstrated.
These free-cell receptors, antitoxins or antienzymes, which
are produced in the body by the proper introduction of
toxins or enzymes, respectively, have the function of com-
bining with these bodies but no other action. As was pointed
out above, this is sufficient to neutralize the toxin or enzyme
and prevent any injurious effect since they can unite with
nothing else. Since these receptors are the simplest type
which has.been studied as yet, they are spoken of by Ehrlich
as receptors of the first order. Other antibodies which are
likewise free receptors of the first order and have the func-
tion of combining only have been prepared and will be
referred to in their proper connection. They are mainly of
theoretical interest.
Ehrlich did a large part of his work on toxins and anti-
toxins with ricin, the toxin of the castor-oil bean, abrin,
from the jequirity bean, robin from the locust tree, and with
240 RECEPTORS OF THE FIRST ORDER
the toxins and antitoxins for diphtheria and tetanus. Anti-
toxins have been prepared experimentally for a large number
of both animal and vegetable poisons, including a number
for bacterial toxins. The only ones which, as yet, are of
much practical importance are antivenin for snake poison,
(not a true toxin, however, see p. 252), antipollenin (sup-
posed to be for the toxin of hay fever) and the antitoxins
for the true bacterial toxins of Bactertwm diphtherie and
Bacillus tetani.
The method of preparing antitoxins is essentially the same
in all cases, though differing in minor details. For commer-
cial purposes large animals are selected, usually horses, so
that the yield of serum may be large. The animals must, of
course, be vigorous, free from all infectious disease. The
first injection given is either a relatively small amount of a
solution of toxin or of a mixture of toxin and antitoxin.
The animal shows more or less reaction, increased temper-
ature, pulse and respiration and frequently an edema at the
point of injection, unless this is made intravenously. After
several days to a week or more, when the animal has recov-
ered from the first injection, a second stronger dose is given,
usually with less reaction. Increasingly large doses are
given at proper intervals until the animal may take several
hundred times the amount which would have been fatal if
given at first. The process of immunizing a horse for diph-
theria or tetanus toxin usually takes several months. Varia-
tions in time and in yield of antitoxin are individual and
not predictable in any given case.
After several injections a few hundred cubic centimeters
of blood are withdrawn from the jugular vein and serum
from this is tested for the amount of antitoxin it contains.
When the amount is found sufficiently large (250 “units”
at least for diphtheria per c.c.) then the maximum amount
of blood is collected from the jugular with sterile trocar and
canula. The serum from this blood with the addition of an
antiseptic (0.5 per cent. phenol, tricresol, etc.) constitutes
‘“‘antidiphtheritic serum,” or “antitetanic serum,” etc. All
sera which are put on the market must conform to definite
standards of strength expressed in “units” as determined
ANTITOXINS—ANTIENZY MES 241
by the U. S. Hygienic Laboratory. In reality a “unit” of
diphtheria antitoxin in the United States is an amount
equivalent to 1 c.c. of a given solution of a standard diph-
theria antitorin which is kept at the above-mentioned
laboratory. This statement, of course, gives no definite idea
as to the amount of antitoxin actually in a “unit.” Specifi-
cally stated, a “unit” of antitoxin contains approximately
the amount which would protect a 250-gram guinea-pig from
100 minimum lethal doses of diphtheria toxin, or protect
100 guinea-pigs weighing 250 grams each from one minimum
lethal dose each. The minimum lethal dose (M. L. D.) of
diphtheria toxin is the least amount that will kill a guinea-
pig of the size mentioned within four days. Since toxins
on standing change into toxoids to a great extent, the amount
of antitoxin in a “unit,” though protecting against 100
M.L. D., in reality would protect against about 200 M. L. D.
of toxin containing no toxoid.
The official unit for tetanus antitoxin is somewhat dif-
ferent, since it is standardized against a standard toxin which
is likewise kept ‘at the Hygienic Laboratory. The unit is
defined as “ten times the amount of antitoxin necessary to
protect a 350 gm. guinea-pig for 96 hours against the standard
test dose’ of the standard toxin. The standard test dose is
100 M. L. D. of toxin for a 350 gm. guinea-pig. To express
it another way, one could say that a “unit” of tetanus anti-
toxin would protect one thousand 350 gm. guinea-pigs from
1 M. L. D. each of standard tetanus toxin.
Various methods have been devised for increasing the
amount of antitoxin in 1 c.c. of solution by precipitating
out portions of the blood-serum proteins and at the same
time concentrating the antitoxin in smaller volume. It is
not considered necessary in a work of this character to enter
into these details nor to discuss the process of standardizing
antitoxin so that the exact content of “units” per c.c, may
-be known.
16
CHAPTER XXVIII.
RECEPTORS OF THE SECOND ORDER.
AGGLUTININS.
CHARRIN and Rogers appear to have been the first (1889)
to observe the clumping together of bacteria (Pseudomonas
pyocyanea) when mixed with the blood serum of an animal
immunized against them. Gruber and Durham (1896) first
used the term “agglutination” in this connection and called
the substance in the blood-serum “agglutinin.” Widal
(1896) showed the importance of the reaction for diagnosis
by testing the blood serum of an infected person against a
known culture (typhoid fever).
_ It is now a well-known phenomenon that’ the proper injec-
tion of cells of any kind foreign to a given animal will lead
to the accumulation in the animal’s blood of substances
which will cause a clumping together of the cells used when
suspended in a suitable liquid. The cells settle out of such
suspension much more rapidly than they would otherwise
do. This clumping is spoken of as “agglutination” and the
substances produced in the animal are called “agglutinins.”
If blood cells are injected then “hemagglutinins” result; if
bacterial cells “bacterial agglutinins” for the particular
organism used as “ glanders agglutinin” for Bacteriwm mallet,
“abortion agglutinin” for Bacterium abortus, ‘typhoid
agglutinin” for Bacillus typhosus, ete.
The phenomenon may be observed either under the micro-
scope or in small test-tubes, that is, either microscopically or
macroscopically.
In this case the cells introduced, or more properly, some
substances within the cells, probably protein in nature, act _
as stimuli to the body cells of the animal injected to cause
them to produce more of the specific cell receptors which
AGGLUTININS 243
respond to the stimulus. The substance within the intro-
duced cell which acts as a stimulus (antigen) to the body
cells is called an “agglutinogen.” That “agglutinogen’”’ is
present in the cell has been shown by injecting animals exper-
imentally with extracts of cells (bacterial and other cells)
and the blood serum of the animal injected showed the
presence of agglutinin for the given cell. It will be noticed
that the receptors which become the free agglutinins have
at least two functions, hence at least two chemical groups.
They must combine with the foreign cells and also bring
about their clumping together, their agglutination. Hence
it can be stated technically that an agglutinin possesses a
haptophore group, and an agglutinating group.
The formation of agglutinin in the body for different bac-
teria does not as yet appear to be of any special significance
in protecting the animal from the organism, since the bac-
teria are not killed, even though they are rendered non-
motile, if of the class provided with flagella, and are clumped
together. The fact that such bodies are formed, however,
is of decided value in the diagnosis of disease, and also in
the identification of unknown bacteria.
In many bacterial diseases, agglutinins for the particular
organism are present in the blood serum of the affected
animal. Consequently if the blood serum of the animal be
mixed with a suspension of the organism supposed to be the
cause of the disease and the latter be agglutinated, one is
justified in considering it the causative agent, provided cer-
tain necessary conditions are fulfilled. In the first place it
must be remembered that the blood of normal animals fre-
quently contains agglutinins (“normal agglutinins’) for
many different bacteria when mixed with them in full
strength. Hence the serum must always be diluted with
physiological salt solution (0.85 per cent.). Further; closely
related bacteria may be agglutinated to some extent by the
same serum. It is evident that if they are closely related,
their protoplasm must contain some substances of the same
kind to account for this relationship. Since some of these
substances may be agglutinogens, their introduction into
the animal body will give rise to agglutinins for the related
244 RECEPTORS OF THE SECOND ORDER
cells, as well as for the cell introduced. The agglu-
tinins for the cell introduced will be formed in larger quan-
tity, since a given bacterial cell must contain more of its own
agglutinogen than that of any other cell. By diluting the
blood serum from the animal to be tested the agglutinins
for the related organisms (so-called “coagglutinins’”’) will
become so much diminished as to show no action, while the
agglutinin for the specific organism is still present in an
amount sufficient to cause its clumping. Agglutinins are
specific for their particular agglutinogens, but since a given
blood serum may contain many agglutinins, the serwm’s
specificity for a given bacterium can be determined only by
diluting it until this bacterium alone is agglutinated. Hence
the necessity of diluting the unknown serum in varying
amounts when testing against several known bacteria to
determine for which it is specific, 7. e., which is the cause
of the disease in the animal.
Just as an unidentified disease in an animal may be deter-
mined by testing its serum as above described against known
kinds of bacteria, so unknown bacteria isolated from an
animal, from water, etc., may be identified by testing them
against the blood sera of different animals, each of which has
been properly inoculated with a different kind of known bac-
teria. If the unknown organism is agglutinated by the blood
of one of the animals in high dilution, and not by the others,
evidently the bacterium is the same as that with which the
animal had been inoculated, or immunized, as is usually
stated. This method of identifying cultures of bacteria is
of wide application, but is used practically only in those
cases where other methods of identification are not readily
applied, and especially where other methods are not sufficient,
as in the “intestinal group” of organisms in human
practice.
The diagnosis of disease in an animal by testing its serum
is also a valuable and much used procedure. This is the
method of the “ Widal”’ or “ Gruber-Widal”’ test for typhoid
fever in man and is used in veterinary practice in testing
for glanders, contagious abortion, etc. In some cases a dilu-
tion of the serum of from 20 to 50 times is sufficient for
PRECIPITINS 245
diagnosis (Malta fever), in most cases, however, 50 times
is the lowest limit. Evidently the greater the dilution, that
is, the higher the “titer,” the more specific is the reaction.
PRECIPITINS.
Since agglutinins act on bacteria, probably through the
presence of substances protein in nature within the bacterial
cell, it is reasonable to expect that if these substances be
dissolved out of the cell, there would be some reaction
between their (colloidal) solution and the same serum. As a
matter of fact Kraus (1897) showed that broth cultures
freed from bacteria by porcelain filters do show a precipi-
tate when mixed with the serum of an animal immunized
against the particular bacterium and that the reaction is
specific under proper conditions of dilution. It was not
long after Kraus’s work until the experiments were tried
of “immunizing” an animal not against a bacterium or its
filtered culture, but against (colloidal) solutions of proteins,
such as white of egg, casein of milk, proteins of meat and
of blood serum, vegetable proteins, etc. It was ascertained
that in all these ‘cases the animal’s serum contains a sub-
stance which causes a precipitate with solutions of the pro-
tein used for immunization. The number of such precipi-
tating serums that have been made experimentally is very
large and it appears that protein from any source when
properly introduced into the blood or tissues of an animal
will cause the formation of a precipitating substance for its
solutions. This substance is known, technically as a
““precipitin.”’ The protein used as antigen to stimulate its
formation, or some part of the protein molecule (hapto-
phore group), which acts as stimulus to the cell is spoken
of as a “precipitinogen,”’ both terms after the analogy of
“agglutinin” and “agglutinogen.” In fact the specific pre-
cipitation and agglutination are strictly analogous phenom-
ena. Precipitins act on proteins in (colloidal) solution and
cause them to settle out, agglutinins act on proteins within
cells which cells are in suspension in a fluid and cause the
cells to settle out. Ehrlich’s theory of the formation of
246 RECEPTORS OF THE SECOND ORDER
precipitins is similar to that of agglutinitis, and need not be »
repeated. Substitute the corresponding words in the theory
of formation of agglutinins as above given and the theory
applies. _
The precipitin reaction has not found much practical use
in bacteriology largely because the “agglutination test’’
takes its place as simpler of performance and just as ac-
curate. The reaction is, however, generally applicable to
filtrates of bacterial cultures and could be used if needed.
The so-called “mallease” reaction in glanders is an instance.
Precipitins find their greatest uséfulness in legal medi-
cine and in food adulteration work. As was noted above,
if animals, rabbits for example, are immunized with the
blood of another animal (human beings) precipitins are
developed which are specific for the injected blood with
proper dilution. This forms an extremely valuable means
of determining the kind of blood present in a given spot
shown by chemical and spectroscopic tests to be blood, and
has been adopted as a legal test in countries where such rules
of procedure are applied. Similarly the test has been used
to identify the different kinds of meat in a sausage, and
different. kinds of milk in a mixture. An extract of the
sausage is made and tested against the serum of an animal
previously treated with extract of horse meat, or hog meat,
or beef, etc., the specific precipitate occurring with the
specific serum. Such reactions have been obtained where
the protein to be tested was diluted 100,000 times and more.
Biological relationships and differences have been detected
by the reaction. Human immune serum shows no reaction
with the blood of any animals except to a slight extent with
that of various monkeys, most with the higher, very slight
with the lower Old World and scarcely any with New World
‘monkeys.
It is a fact of theoretical interest mainly that if agglutinins
and precipitins themselves be injected into an animal they
will act as antigens and cause the formation of antiagglu-
tinins or antiprecipitins, which are therefore receptors of
the first order since they simply combine with these immune
bodies to neutralize their action, have only a combining or
‘ PRECIPITINS 247
haptophore group. Also if agglutinins or precipitins be
heated to the proper temperature they may retain their
combining power but cause no agglutination or precipita-
tion, 2. e., they are converted into agglutinoid or precipi-
tinoid respectively after the analogy of toxin and toxoid.
Precipitins like agglutinins possess at least two groups—
a combining or haptophore group and a precipitating (some-
times called zymophore) group. Hence they are somewhat
more complex than antitoxins or antienzymes which have
a combining group only. For this reason Ehrlich classes
agglutinins and precipitins as receptors of the second order.
CHAPTER XXIX.
RECEPTORS OF THE THIRD ORDER.
CYTOLYSINS.
BrroreE Koch definitely proved bacteria capable of caus-
ing disease several physiologists had noted that the red cor-
puscles of certain animals were destroyed by the blood of
other animals (Creite, 1869, Landois, 1875), and Traube and
Gescheidel had shown that freshly drawn blood destroys
bacteria (1874). It was not until about ten years afterward
that this action of the blood began to be investigated in
connection with the subject of immunity. Von Fodor (1885)
showed that saprophytic bacteria injected into the blood
are rapidly destroyed. Fliigge and his pupils, especially
Nuttall in combating Metchnikoff’s theory of phago-
cytosis, announced in 1883, studied the action of the blood
on bacteria and showed its destructive effect (1885-87).
Nuttall also showed that the blood lost this power if heated
to 56°. Buchner (1889) gave the name ‘“‘alexin” (from the
Greek “to ward off”) to the destroying substance and showed
that the substance was present in the blood serum as well as
in the whole blood, and that when the serum lost its power
to dissolve, this could be restored by adding fresh blood.
Pfeiffer (1894) showed that the destructive power of the blood
of animals immunized against bacteria (cholera and typhoid)
was markedly specific for the bacteria used. He introduced
a mixture of the blood and the bacteria into the abdominal
cavity of the immunized animal or of a normal one of the
same species and noted the rapid solution of the bacteria
by withdrawing portions of the peritoneal fluid and exam-
ining them (“Pfeiffer’s phenomenon”). Belfanti and Car-
bone and especially Bordet (1898) showed the specific dis-
solving action of the serum of one animal on the blood cor-
CYTOLYSINS 249
puscles of another animal with which it had been injected.
Since this time the phenomenon has been observed with a
great variety of cells other than red blood corpuscles and
bacteria—leukocytes, spermatozoa, cells from liver, kidney,
brain, epithelia, etc., protozoa, and many vegetable cells.
It is therefore a well-established fact that the proper
injection of an animal with almost any cell foreign to it
will lead to the blood of the animal injected acquiring the
power to injure or destroy cells of the same kind as those
introduced. The destroying power of the blood has been
variously called its “cytotoxic” or “cytolytic” power, though
the terms are not strictly synonymous since “cytotoxic”
means ‘‘cell poisoning” or ‘injuring,’ while “cvtolytic”’
means “cell dissolving.” The latter term is the one gen-
erally used and there is said to be present in the blood a
specific “‘cvtolysin.”” The term is a general one and a given
cytolysin is named from the cell which is dissolved, as a
bacteriolysin, a hemolysin (red-corpuscle-lysin), epitheliolysin,
nephrolysin (for kidney cells), ete. If the cell is killed but
not dissolved the suffix “ cidin’’ or “toxin” is frequently used
as “bacteriocidin,” “spermotoxin,”’ “neurotoxin,” etc.
The use of the term ‘“‘cytolysin” is also not strictly cor-
rect, though convenient, for the process is more complex
than if one substance only were emploved. As was stated
above, the immune serum loses its power to dissolve the cell
if it is heated to 55° to 56° for half an hour, it is inactivated.
But if there be added to the heated or inactivated serum a
small amount of normal serum (which contains only a very
little cytolytic substance, so that it has no dissolving power
when so diluted) then the mixture again becomes cytolytic.
It is evident then that in cytolysis there are two distinct
substances involved, one which is present in all serum, normal
or immune, and the other present only in the immune cytolytic
serum. Experiment has shown that it is the substance
present in all serum that is the true dissolving body, while
the immune substance serves merely to unite this body to the
cell to be destroyed, 7. e., to the antigen. Since the immune
body has therefore two uniting growps, one for the dissolv-
ing substance and one for the cell to be dissolved, Ehrlich
250 RECEPTORS OF THE THIRD ORDER
calls it the “amboceptor.”’ He also uses the word “ comple-
ment” to denote the dissolving substance, giving the idea
that it completes the action of dissolving after it has been
united to the cell by the amboceptor, thus replacing
Buchner’s older term “alexin” for the same dissolving body.
AMBOCEPTORS.
The theory of formation of amboceptors is similar to that
for the formation of the other types of antibodies. The
cell introduced contains some substance, probably protein,
which acts as a chemical stimulus to some of the body cells
provided with proper receptors so that more of these special
receptors are produced, and eventually in excess so that they
become free in the blood and constitute the free ambocep-
tors. It will be noticed that these free receptors differ from
either of the two groups already described in that they have
two uniting growps, one for the antigen (cell introduced)
named cytophil haptophore, the other for the complement,
complementophil haptophore. Hence amboceptors are spoken
of as receptors of the third order. They have no other func-
tion than that of this double combining power. The action
which results is due to the third body—the complement.
It will be readily seen that complement must possess at
least two groups, a combining or haptophore growp which
unites with the amboceptor, and an active group which is
usually called the zymophore or toxophore group. Comple-
ments thus resemble either toxins, where the specific cell
(antigen) is injured or killed, or enzymes, in case the cell is
likewise dissolved. This action again shows the close rela-
tion between toxins and enzymes. Complement may lose
its active group in the same way that toxin does and becomes
then complementoid. Complement is readily destroyed in
blood or serum by heating it to 55° to 56° for half an hour,
and is also destroyed spontaneously when serum stands for
a day or two, less rapidly at low temperature than at room
temperature. ji “
Amboceptors appear to be specific in the same sense that
agglutinins are. That is, if a given cell is used to immunize
COMPLEMENTS 251
an animal, the animal’s blood will contain amboceptors for
the cell used and also for others closely related to it. Jmmun-
ization with spermatozoa or with epithelial or liver cells gives
rise to amboceptors for these cells and also for red blood
corpuscles and other body cells. A typhoid bactericidal
serum has also some dissolving effect on colon bacilli, ete.
Hence a given serum may contain a chief amboceptor and a
variety of “coamboceptors,”’ or one amboceptor made up
of a number of “partial amboceptors” each specific for its
own antigen (“amboceptorogen’’). Amboceptors may com-
bine with other substances than antigen and complement, as
is shown by their union with lecithin and other “lipoids,”
though these.substances seem capable of acting as comple-
ment in causing solution of blood corpuscles.
COMPLEMENTS.
As to whether complements are numerous, as Ehrlich
claims, or there is only one complement, according to Buch-
ner and others, need not be discussed here. In the practi-
cal applications given later as means of diagnosis it is appar-
ent that all the complement or complements are capable of
uniting with at least two kinds of amboceptors.
If complement be injected into an animal it may act as
an antigen and give rise to the formation of anticomplement
which may combine with it and prevent its action and is
consequently analogous to antitoxin. If amboceptors as
antigen are injected into an animal there will be formed by
the animal’s cells antiamboceptors. As one would expect,
there are two kinds of antiamboceptors, one for each of its
combining groups, since it has been stated that it is always
the combining group of any given antigen that acts as the
cell stimulus. Hence we may have an ‘“‘anticytophil ambo-
ceptor” or an “anticomplementophil amboceptor.”’ These
antiamboceptors and the anticomplements are analogous to
antitoxin, antiagglutinin, etc., and hence are receptors of
the first order.
1
252. RECEPTORS OF THE THIRD ORDER
ANTISNAKE VENOMS.
A practical use of antiamboceptors is in antisnake venoms.
Snake poisons appear to contain only amboceptors for differ-
ent cells of the body. In the most deadly the amboceptor
is specific for nerve cells (cobra), in others for red corpuscles,
or for endothelial cells of the bloodvessels (rattlesnake).
The complement is furnished by the blood of the individual
bitten, that is, in a sense the individual poisons himself,
since he furnishes the destroying element. The antisera
contain antiamboceptors which unite with the amboceptor
introduced and prevent it joining to cells and thus binding
the complement to the cells and destroying them. With
this exception these antibodies are chiefly of theoretical
interest.
FAILURE OF CYTOLYTIC SERUMS.
The discovery of the possibility of producing a strongly
bactericidal serum in the manner above described aroused
the hope that such sera would prove of great value in passive
immunization and serum treatment of bacterial diseases.
Unfortunately such expectations have not been realized and
no serum of this character of much practical importance has
been developed as yet (with the possible exception of Flex-
ner’s antimeningococcus serum in human practice. What
hog cholera serum is remains to be discovered).
The reasons for the failure of such sera are not entirely
clear. The following are some that have been offered: (1)
Amboceptors do not appear to be present in very large
amount so that relatively large injections of blood are neces-
sary, which is not without risk in itself. (2) Since the com-
plement is furnished by the blood of the animal to be treated,
there may not be enough of this to unite with a sufficient
quantity of amboceptor to destroy all the bacteria present,
hence the disease is continued by those that escape. (3) Or
the complement may not be of the right kind to unite with
the amboceptor introduced, since this is derived from the
blood of a heterologous (‘other kind”) species. In hog-
cholera serum, if it is bactericidal, this difficulty is removed
COMPLEMENT-FIXATION TEST 253
by using blood of an homologous (“same kind’’) animal.
Hence Ehrlich suggested the use of apes for preparing bac-
tericidal sera for human beings. (4) The bacteria may be
localized in tissues (lymph glands), within cavities (cranial,
peritoneal), in hollow organs (alimentary tract), etc., so that
it is not possible to get at them with sufficient serum to
destroy all. This difficulty is obviated by injecting directly
into the spinal canal when Flexner’s antimeningococcus
serum is used. (5) Even if the bacteria are dissolved it does
not necessarily follow that their endotoxins are destroyed.
These may be merely liberated and add to the danger of the
patient, though this does not appear to be a valid objec-
tion. (6) Complement which is present in such a large excess
of amboceptor may just as well unite with amboceptor
which is not united to the bacteria to be destroyed as with
that which is, and hence be actually prevented from dissolv-
ing the bacteria. Therefore it is difficult to standardize the
serum to get a proper amount of amboceptor for the com-
plement present.
COMPLEMENT-FIXATION TEST.
Although little practical use has been made of bactericidal
sera, the discovery of receptors of this class and the peculiar
relations between the antigen, amboceptor and complement
have resulted in developing one of the most delicate and
accurate methods for the diagnosis of disease and for the
recognition of small amounts of specific protein that is in use
today.
This method is usually spoken of as the “complement-fixa-
tion” or the ‘“complement-deviation test” (““Wassermann
test” in syphilis) and is applicable in a great variety of mi-
crobial diseases, but it is of practical importance in those
‘diseases only where other methods are uncertain—syphilis
in man, concealed glanders in horses, contagious abortion
in cattle, ete.
The principle is the same in all cases. The method
depends, as indicated above, on the ability of complement
to combine with at least two amboceptor-antigen systems,
254 RECEPTORS OF THE THIRD ORDER !
and on the further fact that if the combination with one
amboceptor-antigen system is once formed, it does not dis-
sociate so as to liberate the complement for union with the
second amboceptor-antigen system. If an animal is infected
with a microdrganism and a part of its defensive action con-
sists in destroying the organisms in its blood orlymph, then
it follows from the above discussion of cytolysins that there
will be developed in the blood of the animal amboceptor
specific for the organism in question. If the presence of this
specific amboceptor can be detected, the conclusion is war-
ranted that the organism for which it is specific is the cause
‘of the disease. Consequently what is sought in the “com-
plement-fixation test” is a specific amboceptor. In carrying
out the test blood serum from the suspected animal is col-
lected, heated at 56° for half an hour to destroy any comple-
ment it contains and mixed in definite proportions with the
specific antigen and with complement. The antigen is an
extract of a diseased organ (syphilitic fetal liver, in syphilis),
a suspension of the known bacteria, or an extract of these
bacteria. Complement is usually derived from a guinea-
pig, since the serum of this animal is higher in complement
than that of most animals. The blood of the gray rat con-
tains practically as much. If the specific amboceptor is
present, that is, if the animal is infected with the suspected
disease, the complement will unite with the antigen-ambo-
ceptor system and be “fixed,” that is, be no longer capable
of uniting with any other amboceptor-antigen system. No
chemical or physical means of telling whether this union has
occurred or not, except as given below, has been discovered
as yet, though doubtless will be by physicochemical tests,
nor can the combination be seen. Hence an “indicator,” as
is so frequently used in chemistry, is put into the mixture
of antigen-amboceptor complement after it has been allowed
to stand in the incubator for one hour to permit the union
to become complete. The “indicator” used is a mixture of
sheep’s corpuscles and the heated (‘inactivated’) blood
serum of a rabbit which’ has been injected with sheep’s
blood corpuscles and therefore contains a hemolytic ambo-
ceptor specific for the corpuscles, which is capable also of
~
COMPLEMENT-FIXATION TEST 255
uniting with complement. The indicator is put into the
first mixture and the whole is again incubated for at least
two hours and examined. If the mixture is clear and color-
less with a deposit of red corpuscles at the bottom, that would
mean that the complement had been bound to the first
complex, since it was not free to unite with the second
sheep’s corpuscles (antigen)—rabbit serum (hemolytic ambo-
ceptor) complex—and destroy the corpuscles. Hence if the
complement is bound in the first instance, the specific ambo-
ceptor for the first antigen must have been present in the
blood, that is, the animal was infected with the organism in
question. Such a reaction is called a “ positive’ test.
On the other hand, if the final solution is clear but of a red
color, that would mean that complement must have united
with the corpuscles—hemolytic amboceptor system—and
destroyed the corpuscles in order to cause the clear red
solution of hemoglobin. If complement united with this
system it could not have united with the first svstem, hence
there was no specific amboceptor there to bind it; no specific
amboceptor in the animal’s blood, means no infection.
Hence a red solution is a “negative test.”
In practice all the different ingredients must be accurately
tested, standardized and used in exact quantities, and a test
must also be run as a control with a known normal blood
of an animal of the same species as the one examined.
The complement-fixation test might be applied to the
determination of unknown bacteria, using the unknown cul-
ture as antigen and trying it with the sera of different animals
immunized against a variety of organisms, some one of which
might prove to furnish specific amboceptor for the unknown
organism and hence indicate what it is. The test used in
this way has not been shown to be a practical necessity and
hence is rarely employed. It has been used, however, to
detect traces of unknown proteins, particularly blood-serum
proteins, in medicolegal cases in exactly the above outlined
manner and is very delicate and accurate.
CHAPTER XXX.
PHAGOCYTOSIS—OPSONINS.
Ir has been mentioned that Metchnikoff, in a publication
in 1883, attempted to explain immunity on a purely cellular
basis. It has been known since Haeckel’s first observation
in 1858 that certain of the white corpuscles do engulf solid
particles that may get into the body, and among them bac-
teria. Metchnikoff at first thought that this engulfing and
subsequent intracellular digestion of the microdrganisms
were sufficient to protect the body from infection. The
later discoveries (discussed in considering Ehrlich’s theory
of immunity) of substances present in the blood serum and
even in the blood plasma which either destroy the bacteria
or neutralize their action have caused Metchnikoff to modify
his theory to a great extent. He admitted the presence of
these substances, though giving them other names, but ascribed
their formation to the phagocytes or to the same organs
which form the leukocytes—lymphoid tissue generally, bone
marrow. It is not within the province of this work to
attempt to reconcile these theories, but it may be well to
point out that Ehrlich’s theory is one of chemical substances
and that the origin of these substances is not an essential
part of the theory, so that the two theories, except in some
minor details, are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
Sir A. E. Wright and Douglas, in 1903, showed that even in
those instances where immunity depends on phagocytosis,
as it certainly does in many cases, the phagocytes are more
or less inactive unless they are aided by chemical substances
present in the blood. These substances act on the bacteria,
not on the leukocytes, and change them in such a way that
they are more readily taken up by the phagocytes. Wright
proposed for these bodies the name opsonin, derived from a
ELIE METCHNIKOFF
PHAGOCYTOSIS—OPSONINS 257
Greek word signifying “to prepare a meal for.’ Neufeld
and Rimpau at about the same time (1904), in studying
immune sera, observed substances of similar action in these
sera and proposed the name bacteriotropins, or bacteriotropic
substances. There is scarcely a doubt that the two names
are applied to identical substances and that Wright’s name
opsonin should have preference.
The chemical nature of opsonins is not certainly deter-
mined, but they appear to be a distinct class of antibodies
and to possess two groups, a combining or haptophore and
a preparing or opsonic group and hence are similar to anti-
bodies of Ehrlich’s second order—agglutinins and _precipi-
tins. Wright also showed that opsonins are just as specific
as agglutinins are—that is, a micrococcus opsonin prepares
micrococci only for phagocytosis and not streptococci or any
other bacteria.
Wright showed that opsonins for many bacteria are present
in normal serum and that in the serum of an animal which
has been immunized against such bacteria the opsonins
are increased in amount. Also that in a person infected
with certain bacteria the opsonins are either increased or
diminished, depending on whether the progress of the infec-
tion is favorable or unfavorable. The opsonic power of a
serum normal or otherwise is determined by mixing an
emulsion of fresh leukocytes in normal saline§solution with
a suspension of the bacteria and with the serum to be tested.
The leukocytes must first be washed in several changes of
normal salt solution to free them from any adherent plasma
or serum. The mixture is incubated for about fifteen min-
utes and then slides are made, stained with a good differ-
ential blood stain, Wright’s or other, and the average num-
ber of bacteria taken up by at least fifty phagocytes taken
in order in a field is determined by counting under the
microscope. The number so obtained Wright calls the
phagocytic index of the serum tested. The phagocytic index
of a given serum divided by the phagocytic index of a nor-
mal serum gives the opsonic index of the serum tested.
Assuming the normal opsonic index to be 1, Wright asserts
that in healthy individuals the range should be not more
17
258 PHAGOCYTOSIS—OPSONINS
|
than from 0.8 to 1.2, and that an index below 0.8 may show
a great susceptibility for the organism tested, infection with
‘the given organism if derived from the individual, or improper
dosage in case attempts have been made to immunize by
using killed cultures, vaccines, of the organism.
On the occasion of the author’s visit to Wright’s clinic
(1911) he stated that he used the determination of the opsonic
index chiefly as a guide to the dosage in the use of vaccines.
Most workers outside the Wright school have failed to
recognize any essential value of determinations of the
opsonic index in the use of vaccines. Some of the reasons
for this are as follows: The limit of error in phagocytic
counts may be as great as 50 per cent. in different series of
fifty, hence several hundred must be counted, which adds
greatly to the tediousness and time involved; the variation
in apparently healthy individuals is frequently great, hence
the “normal” is too uncertain; finally the opsonic index
and the clinical course of the disease do not by any means
run parallel. Undoubtedly the method has. decided value
in the hands of an individual who makes opsonic determina-
tions his chief work, as Wright’s assistants do, but it can
scarcely be maintained at the present time that such deter-
minations are necessary in vaccine therapy. Nevertheless
that opsonins actually exist and that they play an essential
part in phagocytosis, and hence in immunity, is now generally
recognized.
BACTERIAL VACCINES.
Whether determinations of opsonic index are useful or
not is largely a matter of individual opinion, but there is
scarcely room to doubt that Wright has conferred a lasting
benefit by his revival of the use of dead cultures of bacteria,
bacterial vaccines, both for protective inoculation and for
treatment. It is perhaps better to use the older terms
“vaccination” and “vaccine” (though the cow, vacca, is not
concerned) than to use Wright’s term “opsonic method” in
this connection, bearing in mind that the idea of a vaccine
is that it contains the causative organism of the infection as
indicated on p. 231.
BACTERIAL VACCINES 259
As early as 1880 Touissant proposed the use of dead cul-
tures of bacteria to produce immunity. But because injec-
tions of such cultures were so frequently followed by abscess
formation, doubtless due to the high temperatures used to
kill the bacteria, the method was abandoned. Further, Pas-
teur and the French school persistently denied the possi-
bility of success with such a procedure, and some of them
even maintain this attitude at the present time. The suc-
cesses of Wright and the English school which are being
repeated so generally wherever properly attempted, leave
no doubt in the unprejudiced of the very great value of the
method and have unquestionably opened a most promising
field both for preventive inoculation and for treatment in
many infectious diseases. That the practice is no more
universally applicable than are immune serums and that it
has been and is still being grossly overexploited is undoubted.
The use of a vaccine is based on two fundamental prin-
ciples. The first of these is that the cell introduced must not
be in a condition to cause serious injury to the animal by its
multiplication and consequent elaboration of injurious sub-
stances. The second is that, on the other hand, it must con-
tain antigens in such condition that they will act as stimuli
to the body cells to produce the necessary ’ antibodies,
whether these be opsonins, bactericidal substances, or anti-
endotoxins. In the introduction of living organisms there
is always more or less risk of the organism not being sufh-
ciently attenuated and hence of the possibility of its pro-
ducing too severe an infection. In using killed cultures,
great care must be exercised in destroying the organisms,
so that the antigens are not at the same time rendered inactive.
Hence in the preparation of bacterial vaccines by Wright’s
method the temperature and the length of time used to kill the
bacteria are most important factors. This method is in gen-
eral to grow the organisms on an agar medium, rub off the
culture and emulsify in sterile normal salt solution (0.85
per cent. NaCl). The number of bacteria per c.c. is deter-
mined by staining a slide made from a small volume of the
emulsion mixed with an equal volume of human blood drawn
from the finger and counting the relative number of hac-
260 PHAGOCYTOSIS—OPSONINS
teria and of red blood corpuscles. Since the corpuscles are
normally 5,000,000 per c.mm., a simple calculation gives
the number of bacteria. The emulsion of bacteria is then
diluted so that a certain number of millions shall be contained
in each c.c., ‘‘standardized”’ as it is called, then heated to
the proper temperature for the necessary time and it is
ready for use. A preservative, as 0.5 per cent. phenol, tri-
cresol, etc., is added unless the vaccine is to be used up at
once. The amounts of culture, salt solution, etc., vary. with
the purpose for which the vaccine is to be used, from one
or two agar slant cultures and a few c.c. of solution, when a
single animal is to be treated, to bulk agar cultures and
liters of solution as in preparing antityphoid vaccine on a
large.scale. .
Agar surface cultures are used so that there will be as
little admixture of foreign protein as possible (see Anaphy-
laxis, p. 264 et seq.). Normal saline solution is isotonic with
the body cells and hence is employed as the vehicle.
Vaccines are either “autogenous” or ‘“‘stock.’”’ An “autog-
enous” vaccine is a vaccine that is made from bacteria
derived from the individual or animal which it is desired to
vaccinate and contains not only the particular organism but
the particular strain of that organism which is responsible
for the lesion. Stock vaccines are made up from organisms
like the infective agent in a given case but derived from
some other person or animal or from laboratory cultures.
Commercial vaccines are “stock” vaccines and are usually
“polyvalent” or even “mixed.”
EIcHSTED, 26
Electric milk purifier, 139, 140
Electricity, 68, 138
Elements, chemical, in bacteria, 71
Elimination_of pathogenic organ-
isms, 226
paths of, gall-bladder, 226
kidneys, 226
saliva, 226
urine, 226
Empusa muce, 26
Endo-enzymes, 114
Endogenous infection, 216
_Endoplasm, 39
Endotoxins, 116
Energy relationships of bacteria,
Ensilage, 87
Enteritis, 215
Entire edge, 208
Entrance, paths of, of pathogenic
organisms, 222
‘Enzyme, final test for, 111
Enzymes, 109-114, 268
activating, 113
and toxins compared, 114, 115
as catalyzers, 111
chief characteristics of, 111
classification of, 112, 113
co-, 110
277
Enzymes, coagulating, 112
name of, .112
oxidizing, 113
produced by all cells, 112
production of, 109
reducing, 113°
solar to living organisms, 109,
11
splitting, 112
Enzymoid, 239
Epitheliolysin, 249
Equatorial germination of spore, 45
Erysipelas, hog, 226
Essential structures, 39
Essentials of a culture medium, 158
Esters, production of, 98
Ether as disinfectant, 150
Eubacteria, 59
Examination, bacteriological, mate-
rial for, 211
Exanthemata, 226
yee theory of immunity,
23:
Exo-enzymes, 114
Exogenous infection, 216
Exotoxins, 116
Experimental animals, 210
Explanation of natural immunity,
216
External auditory meatus as chan-
nel of infection, 223
genitalia, 227 ;
as channels of infection, 224
Eyes in cheese, 85
F
Factors affecting disinfectants,
151, 152
modifying immunity, 228
Facultative, 66
aérobe, 66
anaérobe, 66
parasite, 76
Failure of cytolytic serums, 2o2
of vaccines, 261
Fats in bacteria, 73
splitting of, 90
Favus, 25
Feces, bacteria in, 62
Fermentation, 82
acetic acid, 29, 88 ‘
acid, 82
278
Fermentation, alcoholic, 29, 89
ammoniacal, 29
and putrefaction, 28
blue milk, 29
. butyric acid, 29, 88
gaseous, 82
lactic acid, 85-88
of carbohydrates, 82
tubes, 68, 174
Ferments, organized, 114
unorganized, 114
Fever, Malta, 245
recurrent, 27
scarlet, 224, 226
Texas, 214, 215, 220
typhoid, 214, 226
yellow, 221
Filament, 52
Filiform growth, 204
Film, fixing of, 191
preparation of, 190
Filter, Berkefeld, 142
candles, 141
Pasteur-Chamberland, 142
sprinkling, 104
Filterable organisms, 216
virus, 216
Filtration, 140, 141
air, 141
water, 141
First order, receptors of, 239
Fixation test, complement, 253-255
Fixed, 254
Fixing of film, 191
Flagella, position of, 42, 43
staining of, 194
Flagellum, 42
Flash process, 133
Fleas as carriers, 220
_ FLEXNER, 253
Flies as carriers, 220
disease of, 26
Frisean, 248
Fopor, von, 248
Food taken in by diffusion, 36
uses of, 75
Foot-and-mouth disease, 223, 226
Foreign-body pneumonia, 224
Formaldehyde and steam disinfec-
tion, 156
as disinfectant, 148-150
Formation of agglutinins, theory
0
of antibodies, 116
INDEX
Formation of precipitins, Ehrlich’s
theory, 245 |
. of spores, 45.
conditions for, 48
Forms, cell, 49, 55
degeneration, 51
growth, 51
involution, 51
study of, 30
Foxes as carriers, 220
FRACASTORIUS, 23
Free receptors, 237
spore, 45
Fucus, C. J., 29
Fuchsin, anilin, 189
carbol, 189
Functions of agglutinin, 243°
Fungi, bacteria classed as, 34
Funnel-shaped liquefaction, 205
G
GaBBeEt’s blue, 190
method of staining, 193
Gall-bladder as a path of elimina-
tion, 226
Gas, natural, 84
production of, 98
Gaseous fermentation, 82
GaASPARD, 25
Gelatin culture medium, 161-163
liquefaction of, 92
plates first used, 27
General conditions for growth, 62
infections, vaccines in, 261
Generation, spontaneous, 17
Generic names introduced, 30
Genitalia, external, 227
as channels of infection, 224
Gentian violet, anilin, 18
aqueous, 189
German measles, 214
Germination of spore, 45.
bipolar, 46
equatorial, 45
oblique, 45
polar, 45
Germs, disease, 23
GESCHEIDEL, 248
Glanders, 215, 223, 224, 226, 227,
253
infectious, 24
mallease, reaction in, 246
INDEX
Glands, mammary, 226
salivary, 226
GLEICHEN, 30
Globulin in bacteria, 73
Glycerin broth, 159
Glycerinized potato, 166
Gonococcus, 224
Gonorrhea, 226, 227
Good health, 269
Grain rust, 25
Gram-negative, 192
positive, 192
Gra m’s method of staining, 191
solution, 192
Granular, coarsely, edge, 208
Granules, metachromatic, 42
Neisser, 42
polar, 42
Grape juice, pasteurization of, 129,
132
Grass bacilli, 193
one plants, nitrogen nutrition of,
GRIESINGER, 26
Group, agglutinating, 243
BAD VOPHEs 238, 239, 243, 247,
250
precipitating, 246
toxophore, 250
zymophore, 239, 247, 250
Groupings, cell, 52, 55
Growth, appearance of, in identifi-
cation, 200
arborescent, 204
beaded, 204
filiform, 204
forms, 51
papillate, 204
villous, 204
GrusER, 242
Gruber-Widal test, 244
Grusy, 25
H
HAECKEL, 256
Hanging drop slide, 185
Hansen, Emin Cur., 27
Haptophore, complementophil, 250
cytophil, 250
group, 238, 239, 243, 247, 250
Harness, etc., disinfection of, 155 |
Health, good, 269
279
Heat, 119-135
dry, 121
moist, 121
production of, 104
Heated serum, 248
Hemagglutinin, 242
Hemicellulose, 72
Hemolysin, 249
Hemolytic amboceptor, 254
Hemorrhagic septicemias, 225
HENLE, 25, 215
Hericourt, 264
Herpes tonsurans, 25
HEssELine, von, 29
Heterologous, 252
Heterotrophic, 75
Hitt, 30
Horrman, 23
Hog cholera, 220, 226, 230
erysipelas, 226
Homologous, 253
Hookworm disease, 26
Host, 76
Hot beds, 105
Hydrochloric acid, 225
Hydrogen peroxide as disinfectant,
145, 150
uses of, 78
Hydrophobia, 227
Hydrostatic pressure, 69
Hypochlorites as disinfectant, 145
I
Ick-cREAM poisoning, 93
Identification, appearance of growth
in, 200
of blood, 246
of meat, 246
of milk, 246
physiological activities in, 199
Immunity, 228
acquired, 230
active, 230
production of, 230-232
antibacterial, 232
antitoxic, 232
artificial, 230
cellular theory of, 234
chemical theory of, 234
definition of, 213
Ehrlich’s theory of, fundamental
principles of, 235
280
Immunity, Ehrlich’s theory of,
summary of, 237
exhaustion. theory of, 234
inherited, 230
natural, 230
explanation of, 269
noxious retention theory of, 234
outlines of, 229
passive, 230
phagocytosis theory of, 234
relative, 228
perumepioaultaneous method in,
side-chain theory of, 234
summary of, 268
theories of, 234
to protein, 265, 267
unfavorable environment theory
of, 234
Inactivated, 249
Incubation, "period of, 214
Incubator, cold, 198
Incubators, 196
Index, chronological, 31
opsonic, 257, 258
phagocytic, 257
Indicator, 254
Indol, 93
Infection, 214
auto-, 216
channels of, 222
endogenous, 216
exogenous, 216
mixed, 216
primary, 216
secondary, 216
wound, 25, 27, 215
caused by bacteria, 27
Infections, general, vaccines in, 261
localized, vaccines in, 261
Infectious diseases, 213
Infective organisms, specificity of
location of, 227
Infestation, 214
Infested, 214
Influenza, 224, 226, 227
Infusoria, 30
Inherited immunity, 230
Inoculation, 210
by feeding, 211
by inhalation, 211
cutaneous, 211
intracardiac, 211
intramuscular, 211
INDEX
Inoculation, intra-ocular, 211
intraperitoneal, 211
intraspinal, 211
intrathoracic, 211
intravenous, 211
needles, 176
of culture medium, 170, 176
subcutaneous, 210
subdural, 211
Inoculations, protective, first, 26
Instruments, surgical, disinfection
of, 153
Intestinal discharges, 226
Intestine, large, 227
small, 227
Intestines as channel of infection,
25
Intracardiac inoculation, 211
Intramuscular inoculation, 211
Intra-ocular inoculation, 211 +
Intraperitoneal inoculation, 211
Intraspinal inoculation, 211
Intrathoracic inoculation, 211
Intravenous inoculation, 211
Invasion, 214
Invertase, 112
Involution forms, 51
Iodine as disinfectant, 145
Tron bacteria, 75, 78
uses of, 78
Isolation ‘of bacteria, 178-183
aids in, 182, 183
J
JABLOT, 30
Jack o’lanterns, 94
Jar, Novy, 175
Johne’s disease, 225, 226
K
Karte, 29
Kidneys as path of elimination, 226
Kinase, 11
Kircuer, 18, 23
Kzss, 27 ‘
KLENCKE, 26
Koc, Ropert, 17, 27, 31, 215, 248
Koch’s postulates, 215
Kraus, 245
Kross, 231
KUcHENMEISTER, 26
INDEX
\ L.
Lacrrate edge, 207
Lactacidase, 113
Lactic acid fermentation, 85-88
Lancis1, 24
Lanpots, 248
Large intestine, 227
Latour, 2
‘Laveran, 24, 28
Lecithin as complement, 251
LEEUWENHOEK, ANTHONY VAN, 18
Legumes, 106
Leiwy, Joserx, 30
Leprosy, 215, 223, 227
Lesser, 30
Lethal dose, minimum, 241
Leukocytes, washing of, 257
Lice as carriers, 220
Lizsert, 26
Light, 65, 136
production of, 99
Linnagus, 24
Lipase, 112
Liquefaction, crateriform, 205
funnel-shaped, 205
of gelatin, 92
saccate, 205
stratiform, 205
Liquid manure, disinfection of, 155
media, 158
Lister, 26
Litmus milk, 161
Lobar pneumonia, 224
Lecines infections, vaccines in,
Location, specificity of, of infective
organisms, 227
Loeffler’s blood serum, 166
blue, 189
Léscu, 27
Loop needles, 177
Lopotrichic, 43
Lung, apex of, 227
Lungs, 227
as channels of infection, 224
Lysol as disinfectant, 148
M
McCoy, Vera, 148
Macrococcus, 49
Macroscopic agglutination, 242
i
281
Malaria, 24, 214, 220, 227
Malarial parasite, 28
Mallease reaction in glanders, 246
Mallein test, 267
Malignant edema, 218, 222
Malta fever, 245
Mammary gland, 226
Manure, liquid disinfection of, 155
Margaropus annulatus, 220
Martin, 29
Mass cultures, 172
Material for bacteriological exami-
nation, 211
Maximum conditions, 62
Measles, 224, 226
German, 214 Q
Measly pork, 26
Measurement of bacteria, 37
Meat broth, 159
identification of, 246
poisoning, 93
Meatus, external auditory, as chan-
nel of infection, 223
Mechanical vibration, 69
Media, liquid, 158
selective, 182, 183
solid, 158
synthetic, 158
Medium, agar, 163, 164
blood serum, 166, 167
culture, 157
essentials of, 158
inoculation of, 170, 176
gelatin, 161-163
large quantities of, 172
potato, 164-166
reaction of, 70
synthetic, 167
Meningitis, 223
Meningococcus, 223
Lae chloride as disinfectant,
Merismopedia, 54
Metabiosis, 92
Metabolism of bacteria, 75-81
relative to man, 81
Metachromatic granules, 42
Metastases, 216
Metatrophic, 75
Metcanikorr, 234, 256
Methods, antiseptic, 26
of obtaining pure cultures, 178-
8
Microbiology, 213
282 INDEX
Micrococci, 226 N
Micrococcus, 49, 59, 223, 224
pyogenes aureus, 148 N&ceru1, 30
Micromillimeter, 37
Micron, 37
Microscope, bacteriological, 184
improvements in, 28
invented, 18
Microscopic agglutination, 242
Microspira, 60
comma, 63
Microsporon furfur, 26
Migula’s classification, 59, 60
Milk, 161
blue, bacillus of, 27
fermentation 1 in, 29
digestion of, 91
Blend as channel of infection,
identification of, 246
litmus, 161
pasteurization of, 129, 132, 133,
134, 135
purifier, electric, 139, 140
souring of, 29
tuberculous, 226
Minimum conditions, 62
lethal dose, 241
Mixed infection, 216
vaccine, 260
Mixotrophic, 75
M.L. D., 241
Moist heat, 121
Moisture, 63
Molds, relation to en 34
Monas, introduced, 30
Monotrichic, 42
Mordants, 188
Morphology of bacteria, 39-55
Mosquito theory of malaria, 24
Motile bacteria, 42
Motion, Brownian, 44
Mouth cavity as channel of infec-
tion, 223
Movement, Brownian, 44
rate of, in bacteria, 42
37
Mu, 37
Mucose as channels of infection,
223
Miter, 30
Miwnrz, 30
Mycoproteid, 72
Myxomycetes, 36
Names, generic, introduced, 30
Nasal cavity as channel of infec-
tion, 223
discharges, 226
Natural gas, 84
immunity, 230
explanation of, 269
NrErEpHaM, 19
Needles, inoculation, 176
loop, 17
platinum, 176
straight, 176
Negative phase, 262, 263
test, 255
Neisser granules, 42
Nephrolysin, 249
NEUFELD, 257
Neurotoxin, 249
Nichrome wire, 177
Nitrate broth, 161
Nitric bacteria, 103
Nitrification, 103
due to organisms, 30
Nitrifying organisms, 30
Nitrogen, absorption of, 105
circulation of, 96
nutrition of green plants, 107
uses of, 78
Nitrous bacteria, 102
Non-pathogenic, 76
Non-specific disease, 215
Normal agglutinins, 243
Nosema bombycis, 27
Novy jar, 175
Noxious retention theory of im-
munity, 234
Nuclein, 40
in bacteria, 73
Nucleus, 40
Nutrition of green plants, nitrog-
enous, 107
Norra, 248
Oo
OBERMEIER, 27
Objective, oil immersion, 184, 185
Oblique germination of spore, 45
Occurrence of bacteria, 51
Oidium albicans, 25
INDEX
Oil immersion objective, 184, 185
Opsonic index, 257, 258
value of, 258
power, 257
Opsonin, 256
Opsonins, 256-263, 268
antibodies of second order, 257
specificity of, 257
Optimum conditions, 62
Order, first, receptors of, 239
second, receptors of, 242, 247
third, receptors of, 248, 250
Organisms, anaérobic, cultivation
of, 172-176
dissemination of, in the body, 225 »
filterable, 216
meee specificity of location,
22
nitrifying, 30
pathogenic, elimination of, 226
paths of entrance, 222
ultramicroscopic, 215
Organized ferments, 114
Osmotic pressure, 68, 137
Otitis media, 223
Orto, 264
Outlines of immunity, 229
Overproduction activity of cells,
235, 236
Oxidation, 102
Oxidizing enzymes, 113
Oxygen, 66
as disinfectant, 144
compressed, 67
pressure, 66, 67
relations, determination of, 198
uses of, 77
Oznam, 24
Ozone, 67, 138
as disinfectant, 145
P
PANCREAS, 226
Papillate growth, 204
Parasite, 76
facultative, 76
of malaria, 28
strict, 76
Partial amboceptor, 251
Passive immunity, 230
Pasteur, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 231,
234
283
Pasteur flask, 22, 23
treatment of rabies, 231
Pasteur-Chamberland filter, 142
Pasteurization, 127-135
continuous, 129
of beer, 129, 133
of grape juice, 129, 132
of milk, 129-132, 133, 134, 135
of wine, 129
Pathogenic, 76
bacteria, definition of, 213
outside body, 218
pastoncley reasons for study,
21
organisms, elimination of, 226
paths of entrance, 222
Paths of elimination, gall-bladder,
226
kidneys, 226
saliva, 226
urine, 226
of entrance of pathogenic organ-
isms, 222
Pebrine, 26
Peptone solution, Dunham’s,
161
Period of incubation, 214
Peritrichic, 43
Peronospora infestans, 26
Perty, 30
Petri dishes, 164
Petroleum, 84
PFEIFFER, 248
phenomenon, 248
Phagocytes, 234
Phagocytic index, 257
Phagocytosis, 256-263, 268
theory of immunity, 234
Pharynx as channel of infection,
223
Phase, negative, 262, 263
positive, 263
Phenol as disinfectant, 147
Phenomena, anaphylactic, 267
Phenomenon, Arthus’s, 264
Pfeiffer’s, 248
Phosphate rock, 103
Phosphine, 94
Phosphorescence, 99
Phosphorus, circulation of, 96
uses of, 79
Photogenesis, 99
Physical agents for disinfection,
119-143
284
Physiological activities, definition
of, 76
use in identification, 199
Physiology of bacteria, study of,
196-209
Pigment, production of, 100
Pimples, 216, 222
Piroplasma bigeminum, 215, 220
Piroplasmoses, 220, 222
Piroplasms, 227
von Pirquet, 264
Pityriasis versicolor, 26
Plague, 224
Planes of division, 53
. determination of, 54
Planococcus, 59
Planosarcina, 59
Plasmodiophora brassice, 27
Plasmolysis, 39
Plasmoptysis, 40
Plate colonies, study of, 209
cultures, 164, 172
Plates, dilution, 178
gelatin, first used, 27
Platinum needles, 176
Plectridium, 47
Prienciz, 24, 28
Plugs, cotton, 168
Pneumococcus, 224
Pneumonia, broncho-, 224
foreign body, 224
lobar, 224
Pneumonias, 226
Poisoning, cheese, 93
ice-cream, 93
meat, 93
Polar germination of spore, 45
granules, 42
Poliomyelitis, 223
PoLLENDER, 26
Polyvalent vaccine, 260
Pork, measly, 26
Position of bacteria, 34
of flagella, 42, 43
of spore, 46, 47
Positive phase, 263
test, 255
Postulates, Koch’s, 215
Potato, glycerinized, 166
medium, 164-166
rot, 26
Power, opsonic, 257
Practical sterilization and disinfec-
tion, 152-156
INDEX
Pragmidiothrix, 60
Precipitatory group, 246
Precipitin, 245
Precipitinogen, 245
Precipitins, 245-247
anti-, 246 ;
compared with agglutinins, 245
formation of, Ehrlich’s theory,
245 '
uses of, 246
Preparation of antitoxin, 240
of bacterial vaccine, 259, 261
of film, 190
Preservative in vaccine, 260
Pressure, hydrostatic, 69
osmotic, 68, 137
oxygen, 66, 67
steam, 124 7
Preventatives, stock vaccines as,
260
Prevost, 25
Primary infection, 216
Production of acid, 98
of active immunity, 230-232
of antibodies, place of, 269
of aromatic compounds, 99
of enzymes, 109
of esters, 98
of gas, 98 ,
of heat, 104
of light, 99
of pigment, 100
of toxins, 114
Prophylaxis, 264
Protamin in bacteria, 73
Protease, 112
Protective inoculations, first, 28
Protein immunity, 265, 267
split products, 266
Proteins, putrefaction of, 91-97
Proteus, introduced, 30
Protoplasm, 39
Prototrophic, 75
| Protozoa related to bacteria, 37
Pseudomonas, 59
pyocyanea, 116, 242
radicicola, 106
Ptomaines, 92
Puccinia graminis, 25
Punctiform colony, 206
Puncture cultures, 169
Pure culture, 157
methods of obtaining, 178-183
Purin bases in bacteria, 73
INDEX
Putrefaction, 25, 91
and fermentation, 28
of proteins, 91-97
Q
Quick lime as disinfectant, 146
Quinsy, 223
R
RaBieEs, 226
Pasteur treatment of, 231
Rabiger’s method of staining, 194
Radiations, 69
Radium, 69
Rashes, serum, 264
Rate of division, 80
of movement in bacteria, 42
Rats as carriers, 220
Rattlesnake, 252
RayYErR,.26
Reaction, anaphylactic, use of, 268
ease, in glanders, 246
of medium, 70
surface, 81
Reactions, biochemical, definition
of, 76
ReEaumour, 30
Receptor, 238
Receptors, 235, 236
free, 237
of the first order, 239
of the second order, 242, 247
of the third order, 248, 250
Recurrent fever, 27
Red corpuscles, 227
Reni, Francesco, 18
Reducing actions, 101
enzymes; 113
Relapses, 216
Relationships of bacteria, 30
Renucct, 25
Resistance of spores, 47
Retarder, 131
Rheumatism, 223
Rhizoid colony, 206, 208
edge, 208
Rhodobacteriacee, 60
, RicHEt, 264
Ricin, 239
Rimpav, 257
285
RINDFLEISCH, 27
Ringworm, 26
Ripening of cheese, 29
of cream, 86
Robin, 239
Rock, phosphate, 103
Rods in blood, 26 -
Roesrs, 242
Rooms, disinfection of, 153
Root tubercles, 105
RosENAv, 264
Rot, potato, 26
Roup, 223
Rovx, 28
Rust, grain, 25
SaccaTe liquefaction, 205
Saliva as path of elimination, 226
Salivary glands, 226
Salt rising bread, 84
Saprogenic, 91
Saprophilic, 92
Saprophyte, 76
Sarcina, 29, 54
lutea, 67
Sarcoptes scabiei, 25
Sauer kraut, 87
Scarlet fever, 224, 226
Scavengers, bacteria as, 95
Scuicx, 264
Schistosomum hematobium, 26
Schizomycetes, first used, 30
ScHONLEIN, 25 ;
Scuésine and Miwnrz, 30
ScHROEDER and Dvusca, 20
experiment, 20, 21
ScHuttzeE, 20
experiment, 20
Scuwann, 20, 29
experiment, 20, 21
Sea, bacteria in, 61
Sealing air-tight, 19
Second order, receptors of, 242, 247
Secondary infection, 216
Selective media, 182, 183
Sensitization, 265
Sensitized, 265
vaccine, 232
Septicemias, hemorrhagic, 225
Serum, antitetanic, 240
blood, necessity for diluting, 244
286
Serum, diphtheritic, 240
heated, 248
rashes, 264
sickness, 264, 267
Serum-simultaneous method in im-
munity, 231
Serums, cytolytic, failure of, 252
Shape of spore, 46
Sickness, serum, 264, 267
Side-chain theory of immunity, 234
Side-chains, 236
Silkworm disease, 25, 26
Size of bacteria, 37
Skatol, 93
Skin as channel of infection, 222
diseases, 222 °
Slant cultures, 170
Slide, cleaning of, 191
hanging drop, 185
Slope, cultures, 170
Small intestine, 227
Smallpox, 224, 226, 230, 231
vaccine, 231
Smitu, THEOBALD, 264
Snake venoms, anti-, 252
Sneezing, 226
Soap as disinfectant, 148
Sodium hypochlorite as disinfec-
tant, 146
Soil, bacteria in, 61
Soils, acid, 70
Solid media, 158
Solution, Gram’s, 192
stock, of stains, 189
Sore throat, 223
Sound, 69
Sour mash distilling, 87
Source of complement, 254
Souring of milk, 29
SPALLANZANI, 19
Specific amboceptor, 254
chemical stimuli of cells, 235
disease, 215
Specificity of agglutinins, 244
of amboceptors, 250 5
of location of infective organisms,
227
of opsonins, 257
Spermotoxin, 249
Spherotilus, 60
Split products of protein, 266
Splitting enzymes, 112
of fats, 90
Spirillacee, 60
INDEX
Spirilloses, 220, 222
Spirillum, 50, 60
Spirosoma, 60
Spirocheta, 60
Spirocheta obermeiert, 27
Spirochete, 50
Spirochetes, 221
Spoiling of canned goods, 48
Spontaneous combustion, 104
generation, 17
Spore capsule, 45
definition of, 48
free, 45
germination of, 45
of anthrax, 27
position of, 46, 47
shape of, 46
Spores, 44
cause of spoiling of canned
goods, 48
conditions for formation of, 48
first recognized, 30
formation of, 45
resistance of, 47
staining of, 192
two, in bacterium, 47
Sprinkling filters, 104
Stab cultures, 169
Stables, disinfection of, 153-155
Stain, anilin-fuchsin, 189
gentian violet, 189
aqueous gentian violet, 189
carbol-fuchsin, 189
Gabbet’s blue, 190
Loeffler’s blue, 189
Staining bottles, 190
for cell forms, 195
groupings, 194
Gabbet’s method, 193
Gram’s method, 191
of acid-fast bacilli, 193
of bacteria, 188-195
of capsules, 194
of flagella, 194
of spores, 192
Rabiger’s method, 194
reasons for, 188
re of physiological activity,
11
Welch’s method, 194
Ziehl-Neelson method, 193
Stains, stock solutions, 189
Standard antitoxin, 241
test dose, 241
INDEX
Standard toxin, 241
en of vaccines, 259,
Staphylococcus, 54
Srarin, W. A., 181
Steam, 122
ear perneleenite disinfection,
1
sterilizers, 122
under pressure, 124
Stegomyia, 221
Sterile, 119
Sterilization, 118
ond disinfection, practical, 152,
56
discontinuous, 121
Sterilizers, steam, 122
Stimuli, chemical, effect of, 236
of cells, 235
specific chemical, 235
Stock cars, disinfection of, 155
solutions of stains, 189
vaccine, 260 ‘
as preventatives, 260
in treatment, 260
a as channel of infection,
25
Straight needles, 176 ‘
Stratiform liquefaction, 205 ~
Streptobacillus, 52
Streptococcus, 53, 59, 223, 224
Streptospirillum, 52
Streptothrizx bovis, 27
Strict parasite, 76
Structures, accidental, 40
cell, 39
essential, 39
Study of bacteria, 157
of bacterium, necessary steps for,
158
of forms, 30
of pathogenic bacteriology, rea-
sons for, 217
of plate colonies, 209
of physiology of bacteria, 196-209
Subcutaneous inoculation, 210
Subdural inoculation, 211
Substances, cytolytic, 268
Substrate, 111
Sugar broth, 160
Sulphur bacteria, 94
circulation of, 97
deposits of, 104
uses of, 78
287
Summary of Ehrlich’s theory of
immunity, 237
of immunity, 268
Surface reaction, 81
urgical instruments, disinfection
of, 153
Susceptibility, 216
Symbionts, 76
Symbiosis, 76
Synthetic media, 158
medium, 167
Syphilitic antigen, 254
Syphilis, 215, 226, 227, 253
T
Tapeworm, 26
Temperature, 64
Tenia solium, 26
Test, complement-deviation, 253
complement-fixation, 253-255
dose, standard, 241
for enzymes, 111
for toxins, 115
Gruber-Widal, 244
mallein, 267
negative, 255
positive, 255
tuberculin, 267
Wassermann, 253
Widal, 244
Testicle, 227
Tetanus, 214, 218, 222, 227
Tetracoccus, 54
Tetrad, 54
Texas fever, 214, 215, 220
THarr, 29
Theories of immunity, 234
Theory, cellular, of immunity, 234
chemical, of immunity, 234
contagium vivum, 23, 24
Ehrlich’s, of formation of precipi-
tins, 245
of immunity, fundamental
principles of, 235
summary of, 237
exhaustion, of immunity, 234
for use of vaccines, 261
mosquito, of malaria, 24
noxious retention, of immunity,
234
of anaphylaxis, 266
of formation of agglutinins, 242
288
Theory, phagocytosis, of immu-
nity, 234
side-chain, of immunity, 234
unfavorable environment, of im-
munity, 234
. Thermal decaieciih, 65
determination of, 198
Thermophil, 65
Thiobacteria, 60
Thiothrix, 60
Third order, receptors of, 24g 250 |.
Thread, 52
Thrush, 25, 223
Ticks as carriers, 220
Titration, 160
Tonsillitis, 223
Tonsils, 227
as channels of infection, 223
ToOUISSANT, 259
Toxin, 227, 238
final test for, 115
standard, 241
Foxe gnd enzymes compared, 114,
characteristics of, 114, 115
other than bacterial, 115
production of, 114
true, 116
Toxoid, 239
Toxophore group, 250
Tract, alimentary, as channel of
infection, 225
TRAUBE, 248
Treatment of rabies, Pasteur, 231
stock vaccines in, 260
Treponema pallidum, .224
Trichinella spiralis, 26
Trichinosis, 26
Trichophyton tonsurans, 26
Tropical dysentery, 27
True toxins, 116
Trypanosomes, 221
Trypanosomiases, 220, 222
Tubercle bacilli, chemical analysis
of, 74
Tubercles, root, 105
Tuberculin test, 267
Tuberculosis, 215, 228, 224, 225,
226, 227
due to bacteria, 28
infectious nature of, 26
Klencke’s experiment, 26
Villemin’s experiment, 26
Tuberculous milk, 226
INDEX
Tubes, culture, 168
deep, 174
fermentation, 168, 174
Vignal, 173
Two spores in bacterium, 47
TYNDALL, JOHN, 23
Tyndall’s box, 22, 23
Typhoid fever, 214, 226
transmission by flies, 220
U
ULTRAMICROSCOPIC organisms, 215
Ultra-violet rays, 138
Unfavorable environment theory
of immunity, 234
Unit, definition of, 241
of antitoxin, 241
Unorganized ferments, 114
Unwashable articles, disinfection
of, 155
Urea, decomposition of, 95
Urease, 113
Urethral discharges, 226
Urine as path of elimination, 226
bacteria in, 62
Use of agelutinins, 243, 244
of anaphylactic reaction, 268
Uses of carbon, 77
of food, 75
of hydrogen, 78
of iton, 78
of nitrogen, 78
of oxygen, 77
of phosphorus, 79
of precipitins, 246
of sulphur, 78
of vaccines, theory of, 261
Vv
VaccInaTIon, 231
Vaccine, 231
anthrax, 231
autogenous, 260
bacterial preparation of, 259, 261
black-leg, 231
mixed, 260
polyvalent, 260
preservative in, 260
sensitized, 232
smallpox, 231
INDEX
Vaccine, stock, 260
Vaccines, bacterial, 258
dosage of, 262
failure of, 261
m general infections, 261
in localized infections, 261
standardization of, 259, 260
stock, as preventatives, 260
in treatment, 260
theory for use of, 261
Vacuoles, 41
Vaginal discharges, 226
Value of opsonic index, 258
Varo, 23
VaucHAN, 266
Vehicles, disinfection of, 155
Venoms, antisnake, 252
Visors, Eric, 24
Vibration, mechanical, 69
Vibrio, 50
introduced, 30
Vignal tubes, 173
VILLEMIN, 26
Villous growth, 204
Vinegar, 88
Virulence, 216
Virus, filterable, 216
Vultures as carriers, 220
Ww
Watt, cell, 39
composition of, 72
Washable articles, disinfection of,
155
Washing of leukocytes, 257
Wassermann test, 253
Water, bacteria in, 61
filtration, 141
Wess and BarBeEr, 231
WEIGERT, 28, 235
289
Welch’s method of staining, 194
Whooping-cough, 224
Wat, 242
test, 244
' Widal-Gruber test, 244
Will 0’ the wisp, 94
Wine, pasteurization of, 129
WInoGRADSEY, 30, 60
Wire baskets, 168
nicrome, 177
WOLLSTEIN, 24
Worontn, 27
Wound infection, 25, 27, 215
caused by bacteria, 27
Wricat, 256
x
X-rays, 69
Y
YeEast, 29
relation to bacteria, 34
Yellow fever, 221
Z
Zansz, Hans and Zacwarias, 18
ZENKER, 26
Ziehl-Neelson method of staining,
193
Zooglea, 41
Zootoxins, 116
Zymase, 113
Zymases, 113
Zymogen, 113
Zymophore group, 239, 247, 250
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