An Experimental Study of the Direct Inoculation of Bacteria into the Spleen of Living Animals; and a Contribution to the Knowledge of the Importance of a Lesion in Animal Tissue for the Lodgment and Multiplication of Bacteria within It

I. Cultures of B. coli communis, B. typhosus and Staph. pyogenes aureus, when injected into the tissue of the normal spleen, soon disappear from that organ, and indeed from the normal body generally. II. Bacteria injected into a spleen after the whole or a part of the vessels have been tied, multiply in the spleen with great rapidity and continue to supply bacteria to the blood, whence in the healthy body they soon disappear. III. Bacteria injected into the spleen, or subcutaneous tissue, or into the blood current through the ear vein, in cases in which moderate lesions have been made by cauterization or compression in the spleen, liver, kidney, uterus, testicle, peritoneum, or subcutaneous tissue, usually find lodgment in these lesions and multiply there. IV. Even in cases in which numerous foci existed, from which the blood was constantly provided with a fresh supply of bacteria, only few bacteria were found at any time in the blood.