TOXIC SUBSTANCES PRODUCED BY PNEUMOCOCCUS

1. The filtered blood serum of rabbits infected with pneumococci is not toxic. 2. Extracts of pneumococci prepared by keeping emulsions of the bacteria in salt solution at 37 degrees C. for varying periods of time may be toxic, and when injected intravenously into guinea pigs, may produce a train of symptoms followed by acute death resembling that seen in acute anaphylaxis. Such extracts, however, are not uniformly toxic and it has been impossible to discover the exact conditions under which such extracts become toxic. 3. When the centrifugalized peritoneal washings of guinea pigs infected with pneumococci are injected into the circulation of normal guinea pigs, these animals very frequently exhibit symptoms like those seen in acute anaphylaxis, and a considerable proportion of the animals die acutely. 4. When pneumococci are dissolved in dilute solutions of bile salts and the solution resulting is injected intravenously into rabbits and guinea pigs, these animals show with great constancy the same symptoms that are seen in acute anaphylaxis. The solution of pneumococci in bile may occur in ten minutes at 37 degrees C. or in half an hour on ice. This is considered evidence that the toxicity of the solution does not result from digestion of the bacterial protein, but is due to substances preformed in the bacterial cells and set free on their solution. The toxicity of the solution is diminished or destroyed by heating to 55 degrees C. or over.