ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY. MICROSCOPY, ETC. 169 



Lamblia pathogenicity. The human cases under observation were from 

 Flanders and Gallipoli, while kittens and mice were used in the animal 

 experinaents. Giardia {Ldmhlia) infestinaUs is pathogenic to man and 

 is capable of producing diarrhoea, which may be persistent or recurrent. 

 The virulence of the parasite varies, and Lambliasis occurs in tropical 

 and non-tropical countries. The Lamblia cysts can remain infective 

 for some time. Laml)liasis occurs in rodents, especially rats and mice, 

 and can be of human origin. Tlie influence of rats and mice in the 

 spread of Lambliasis has been noted by Xoc and Mathis. Lambliasis 

 may also be produced in cats and may be transferred to man from these 

 animals. As a result, rodents may be reservoirs of Lambliasis — which 

 fact should be borne in mind in considering the question of Lambliasis 

 on the Western Front. 



Agglutiuatiou of Dysentery Bacilli.* — Jacobitz states that in the 

 blood of persons inoculated with typhoid and cholera vaccines, agglu- 

 tinins against Shiga's bacillus occur in a small number of cases, but 

 they are also found in uninocalated persons. So far as his observations 

 go they do not favour the view" held by other investigators that 

 inoculations with typhoid and cholera vaccines cause the production of 

 agglutinins against BadJlus Dysenterise (Shiga), but that on the other 

 hand an attack of typhoid fever does appear to exert an influence in this 

 direction. The author has not seen Shiga agglutination in a higher 

 dilution than 1 in 50 by the serum of persons who have never had 

 dysentery, and only coarse clumping must be taken as specific. The 

 test-time taken is twenty hours. Given a suitable culture, the macro- 

 scopic test, coarse clumping, and a dilution above lin50, then a positive 

 agglutination test points to an infection with Shiga's bacilhis, even in a 

 man inoculated with typhoid and cholera vaccines. These considerations 

 apply in the case of B dijsenterim (Flexner-Y.), with the j)roviso that the 

 dilution of serum must be greater than 1 in 100. 



Agg-lutination Eeaction in Leprosy.! — W.'H. Harris and J. A. 

 Landford have tested sera derived from cases of leprosy at the Louisiana 

 Leper Home, and from rabbits intensively immunized, with a view to 

 testing the agglutinability of Bacillus lepree and allied organisms. Five 

 strains of B. Jeprse (Clegg, Currie, Briukerhofl\ Bayon and Duval), human, 

 bovine and avian tuberculosis, B. phJei, Moeller's mist bacillus and acid- 

 fast cultures of Korn and Karlinski were employed. An emulsion of 

 Hansen's bacillus from a human nodule was also used. The conclusions 

 arrived at were as follows : — The agglutinin present in the serum of the 

 human subject affected with leprosy is usually low in titre and inconstant 

 in its action. The employment of this procedure, therefore, has proved of 

 no avail in striving to authenticate any of the various cultures isolated 

 from the leprous lesions as the causal organism of human leprosy. The 

 sera derived from rabbits inoculated with various bacillary antigens 

 yield agglutinins likewise inconstant in amount and erratic in their 



* Berlin Klin. Woch, liii. (1916) pp. 718-9. 



t Journ. Med. Research, xxxiv. (1916) pp. 157-67. 



