196 PATHOGENIC BACTERIA.

granular precipitate, above which the liquid remains
clear.

When injected into animals Fehleisen's coccus behaves
exactly like the Streptococcus pyogenes.

Observation has shown that dire results may follow the
entrance of this organism into exposed wounds, and that
it causes not only local suppuration, but sometimes a
general infection.

The empiric experience that the occasional accidental
infection of malignant tumors with erysipelas cocci was
followed by sloughing and subsequent disappearance of
the tumor, suggested inoculation with the Streptococcus
erysipelatis as a therapeutic measure. The dangerous
character of the remedy, however, caused many to re-
frain from its use, for when one inoculated the living
erysipelas germs into the tissues he never could estimate
the exact amount of disturbance that would follow. The
difficulty seems to have been overcome by Coley, who
recommends the toxin instead of the living coccus for
injection. A virulent culture is obtained, inoculated
into small flasks of slightly acid bouillon, allowed to
grow for three weeks, then reinoculated with Bacillus
prodigiosus, allowed to grow for ten or twelve days at
the room-temperature, well shaken up, poured into bottles
of about f ass capacity, and rendered perfectly sterile by an
exposure to from 50-60° C. for an hour. It is claimed
that the combined toxins of erysipelas and prodigiosus
are much stronger than the simple erysipelas toxin. The
best effects are found in cases of sarcoma, where the
toxin causes a rapid necrosis of the tumor tissue, which
can be scraped out with an appropriate instrument
Numerous cases are on record in which this treatment
has been most efficacious; but, although Coley recom-
mends it and Czerny still upholds it, the majority of sur-
geons have failed to secure the desired results.

Recently (1895) considerable attention has been be-
stowed upon the anti-streptococcus serum of Marmorek,
which is said to act specifically upon cases of strepto-