The pathogenicity of Clostridium botulinum has been the subject of much laboratory work with variable results. Botulism in man is unquestionably a true intoxication caused by the soluble toxin elaborated by CI. botulinum under saprophytic conditions. There is a possibility, however, that the organism itself may multiply and produce this toxin within the body, since it is recognized that the temperatures employed in preparing contaminated material for consumption might be insufficient to kill the highly resistant spores of the organism, although rendering the product safe as far as the presence of any preformed toxin is concerned. Recent work on other toxin-producing organisms, such as CI. tetani, has stimulated the effort to determine whether such a condition as we find