The Bactericidal Action of Lymph Taken from the Thoracic Duct of the Dog

Nine years ago 1Vuttall* first described the bactericidal action of the Mood, suggesting at the same time that the other fluids of the body may possess a similar action. He found later that the aqueous humor, pericardial fluid, and a pleuritic fluid poor in cellular elements also possessed bactericidal power. Prudden t determined that ascitic fluid, fluid taken from a hydrocele, and the liquor amnii of the pig had the same properties. As far as we have been able to ascertain, no systematic examination of all the body fluids, in regard to this point, has ever been made. Flexner$ found that the blood serum of the human placenta was not distinctly germicidal for the Staphylococcus aureus, but was germicidal for the Bacillus typhosus. Caution in drawing conclusions as to the germicidal action of body fluids not hitherto examined is manifestly necessary. A controversy having lately arisen as to the channels of absorption of serous fluids, it seemed to us a matter of importance to determine whether lymph from the thoracic duct possesses bactericidal powers. The possibility was present that an exchange of the bactericidal factors between the blood and lymph-lymph f~-om the interstitial spaces--might occur only through the walls of the blood-vessels. Lymph from the thoracic duct might not therefore possess any action. At the beginning of our work, Professor Prudden called our attention to an article by l~fax Neisser,§ entitled