Page 806 - My FlipBook

816 DENTAL CARIES. :

reach, can play the same malignant role as upon the teeth." Gangrene
of the lungs^ abscesses of the mouth and throat, chronic pyaemia, etc., etc.
have bv various authors been ascribed to the action of the fungi of the
human mouth. Raynaud, Lannelongue, and Pasteur produced what
they called maladie nouveUe by inoculating rabbits with the saliva of a
child bitten by a mad dog, and A. Fraenkel has in a number of cases
produced sputum-septicaemia by inoculating rabbits with his own saliva.
We ask ourselves, then, the question, ]\Iay not many of our obscure
cases of infectious disease which now and then appear after extraction
or other dental operations, and which are without further examination
attributed to the unclean instruments or hands of the dentist, be the
result of an infection produced by micro-organisms in the patient's own
mouth? If a man's saliva contains organisms which when brought into
the blood of a rabbit occasion death in twenty-four hours, would it be
a matter of no consequence to produce so large a wound in his mouth
as that caused by the extraction of a tooth ? For the purpose, if pos-
sible, of throwing some light upon this question, I have undertaken a
series of experiments for determining whether the organisms which are
most commonly found in the human mouth possess the power of pro-
ducing death (by septicaemia or otherwise) by inoculation. These exper-
iments, as well as the others recorded in this article, I have, in fact, only
begun. My absence from lijome, however, prevents my carrying them
on during the summer months, and I have determined, therefore, to pre-
sent the results which I have already obtained, few and imperfect as they
are. »
The inoculations have thus far been performed on three rabbits, one
rat, and six white mice. They were made partly with a mixture of the
two fungi a and y, and partly with saliva which had been kej^t in ster-
ilized calf's broth for fifteen hours at blood-temperature.
Each rabbit received 1 c.c. of the infected liquid, injected directly into
the lung or abdominal cavity ; the rat 0.2 c.c, and the mice 0.1 c.c.
Exj). 1. Small rabbit inoculated with 1 c.c. in the abdominal cavity
In the course of a few hours the rabbit appeared evidently ill, refused
to eat, and remained quiet in the corner of the cage. In twenty-four
hours diarrhcca appeared, with a slight elevation of temperature. These
svmptoms increased during the next day, till fifty hours after the time
of inoculation it was found at the point of death. The examination
showed the blood to be almost entirely free from organisms and no
indication of septicaemia. Living fungi were found, however, in the
abdominal cavity, and a large part of the right lobe of the liver was
completely riddled with masses of fungi ; also in the faeces were found
enormous numbers, which morphologically were identical with those in
the liver, their entrance into the alimentary canal from the liver being
easily accom])lislied. I unfortunately neglected, however, to establish
their identity by the proper cultures.
Exp. 2. Rabbit inoculated as in Exp. 1 : The animal manifested a
slight indisposition on the second day, from which it soon recovered.
Exp. 3. Rabbit inoculated in the right lung Avith saliva M'hich had
been kept in sterilized calf's broth for fifteen hours at 37° C. : No
eifect apparent.