The Washington herald., 1913-10-19
DEADLY DISEASE
germ Studied
Drs. Flexner and Noguchi Ex-
pertinent with InfantiIe
Paralysis Cultures.
GET EXCELLENT RESULTS
Noted Physicians Of the Rockefeller
Institute Make Valuable contri-
button to Medical Science.

new 1orks Oct- lG-Dr. simon E1exner,
director Of the Rockefeller Institute for
Medical Research: and DR.. Hideyo .Nogu-
chi, one Of his distinguished feliow-work-
ers in that institution, have succeeded at
last In cultivating artihcialiy the germ
that Is responsible for epidemic poliomye-
litis, commonly known As infantile
paralysis. Their account of the ex-
periments leading up to this Iong-hoped-
for result appears In the current issue
OF the Journal Of Experimental Medicine
After describing hitherto unsuccessful at
tempts to demonstrate the micro-or-
gantsm under the microscope and de-
velop II in artificial cultures, the writer
says:
During the several years that epidemic
poliomyelitis has prevailed in the Eastern
United States We have collected many
specimens from affected human beings
and monkeys. Portions OF nervous and
other organs were regularly set aside In
80 per cent sterile glycerin in the refrige-
rator Hence there were available for
the cultivation tests both fresh specimens
yielded by recent autopsies upon human
beings and monkeys and material pre-
served for periods ranging from a few
days to many months
began Last Year.
THE new experiments in cultivation
were begun In the summer Of 1872, when
many acute cases OF poliomyelitis were
being cared for In the hospitals Of the
Rockefeller Institute. Autopsies were per-
formed upon fatal cases. Thus the culti-
walton was carried out simultaneously up
on fresh, sterile, or practically sterile
(for ordinary bacteria) specimens derived
from monkeys experimentally inoculated
from both sources"
The authors explain that any part of
the central nervous system is suitable
for experimentation, but that the brain
Is to be preferred for the reason that
it can be obtained more readily. The
medium used for the proposed culture is
human ascitic fluid, that is. the fluid
found in dropsical accumulations in the
abdominal cavity. To this fluid Is added
q fragment Of sterile (surgicaIly elean)
fresh tissue. It seems that for proper
cultivation the germ isolated from the
nervous organs OF cases Of poliomyelitis
demands this ascitic fluid. It is neces-
sary to exclude oxygen to obtain the
initial culture. 1t is also necessary, or
sufficient, to cover the liquid with a deep
layer of sterile paraffin oil in order to
keep out the oxygen and keep the fluid
itself sterile.
Placed I'm Jars.
Next test tubes of a certain size are
selected and into each OF series a piece
Of sterile kidney Of the normal rabbit is
placed To each tube is added a frag-
ment OF corresponding size OF the "cere-
brum or other part of the brain or spinal
cord" The sterile ascitic fluid mentioned
above is poured in to the extent OF fifteen
cubic centfmeters to each tube On top OF
this Is poured four cubic centimeters of
the sterile parafiin oil. The control tubes
a. EU.
ascitic fluid and kidney fragment with
out brain tissue, and the other ascitic
fluid and brain tissue without kidney
tissue.
f. Some OF the tubes are placed in jars
and others are not Those in the jars.
the authors explain. should not be dis
turbed for from to Il days.
Gross contaminations having been ex-
cluded," the writers continue, the Pc
culiar micro-organism obtained from the
poliomyelitis nervous tissues exhibits the
following growth characteristics: At the
expiration Of about five days incubation
faint opalescence appears about the
fragments Of tissue at the bottom of the
tube. The opalescence can be gradually
diffused through the tube by gentle shak-
ing. - At the expiration OF ten or
twelve days the diffuse opalescence Of the
medium in the tubes in which growth has
been observed 10 Iake place DeSlnS 10
diminish as sedimentation sets in, during
which minute, irregular particles form,
heavy enough to fall slowly to the bot
tom Of the tube"
Colonies Developed.
In short, colonies of the nicro-organ-
isms have developed.
with the nervous tissues OF monkeys,
"In a series of thirty-three experiments
comprising thirteen specimens of brain
tissue, two Of brain emulsion and eighteen
fltrates of brain and spinal cord from
animals infected from two
strains of human virus. an initial
growth was obtained in nineteen in
stances. of which sixteen proved to be
pure and three mixed cultures. OF these,
pure sub-cultures were obtained thirteen
times, namely, eight times from. brain tis-
,ues, four times from filtrates and once
only from emulsion
I'm a second series in which human
nervous tissues were directly employed,
eight successful civilizations were OBJ
aimed. One was from fresh tissue, three
we're from recently glycerinated tissues,
md four from tissues which had been
ziycerinated for many months In two
,pecImens of the last four, initial cultures
,ut no subcultures were obtained In all
he others subcultures resulted ana were