Report of investigations into the pathogeny of diphtheria / conducted by Edward Curtis and Thomas E. Satterthwaite.

  • Curtis, Edward, 1838-1912.
Date:
[1877]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of investigations into the pathogeny of diphtheria / conducted by Edward Curtis and Thomas E. Satterthwaite. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    3/56 (page 3)
    > v5 importance to the determining whether or not the granules were themselves bacteria. When- ever, therefore, it may be remarked in passing, statements are made in this report about bacteria, either rods or balls of massed bacteria—both definitely recognizable by the micro- scope—are always meant. So far then as regards the presence of bacteria in our diphtheritic membranes, we found abundant evidence of the existence of the form described by other observers, but these forms were in no wise different in optical or chemical behavior from the bacteria found in putrescent but non-diphtheritic animal matters. The morphological elements being thus determined, and being found to present nothing sui generis in form, we proceeded to our proposed experimentation, which was to inoculate living animals with diphtheritic membrane under varying conditions. The idea was that if, as alleged,1 inoculation will produce diphtheria in the inoculated animal, then, by varying the conditions, the nature of the poisonous principle and the determining circumstances of infection might be discovered. The animal chosen for experimentation was the rabbit, partly because we had not the facilities for dealing with larger or more'troublesome animals, and partly because some German investigations, with which it was desirable that ours might be compared, were also conducted upon rabbits. The first point was to determine, as a basis for comparison, the effect upon the rabbit of simple inoculation of fresh diphtheritic membrane. Following Eberth,2 3 we first tried inocu- lating the cornea. This was done by pricking and scratching the cornea with a needle, then rubbing into the abrasions a bit of diphtheritic membrane, and finally holding the lids shut for a few minutes with the piece of membrane inside. According to Eberth® this proceeding begets an extensive diphtheritic keratitis with constitutional symptoms and even termination in death. In our hands, however, nothing resulted but small local spots of inflammation at the site of each puncture, which appeared the day after infection, and speedily subsiding, left the eye well by the fourth or sixth day. No severe constitutional symptoms appeared, and none of the animals died except one whose thigh was also inoculated. These inoculations were tried with four4 different diphtheritic specimens. In three5 * of these it is an open question if the material inoculated was active, but in the third® case there is no such doubt, for the same membrane, which was thus almost wholly innocent upon six corneae, produced extensive lesions and proved fatal in forty-five hours when inoculated into the muscular tissue of the thigh.7 On account of these failures we abandoned trying the cornea, and in all subsequent inoculations resorted to the muscular or subcutaneous connective tissue. Where the material to be inoculated was solid, as with bits of diphtheritic membrane, it was inserted into the muscular tissue either of the fore or hind leg, by the following method : A snip is made through the skin and subcutaneous connective tissue an inch or more distant from the intended site of inoculation in the muscle; then the skin is drawn along till the hole exposes the muscle, when a cut is made into the latter tissue, and the inoculating material pushed into the wound. The skin being then let go, resumes its natural position, and the inoculated substance is retained in place without the need of a suture. Where the inoculating material was fluid it was simply injected subcutaneously by an ordinary hypodermic syringe. Thirty-eight rabbits 1 Oertel, Eberth and others. 2 Ztir Kenntniss der Baeteritischen Mykosen. C. J. Eberth, I.eipsig, 1872. 3 Op. cit. 1 Cases I., II., III., IV. See Part II., pp. 671, 672, 673, 675. 5 Cases I., II., and IV. <• Case III.