624 SUMMARY OF CUJJRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Thus highly concentrated solutions up to 25 p.c. of potassium nitrate 

 do not inhibit spore-formation as much as an isotonic sodium chloride 

 solution. The extreme limits of concentration applicable vary according 

 to the previous training as regards food of the particular yeast em- 

 ployed, since yeasts, like bacteria and fungi, show adaptive capacity and 

 may be gradually accustomed to unfamiliar circumstances. 



Most yeasts require the withdrawal of food before spore-formation 

 can ensue. Schizosaccharomycetes is an exception to this rule, inasmuch 

 as reproduction in this manner occurs in the unchanged medium, pro- 

 vided other conditions, such as temperature and degree of oxygenation,, 

 are favourable. 



Contagious Agalaxy of Q-oats.* — E. Sergeant and G. Roig from 

 their observations on the above disease in Algeria have arrived at the 

 following conclusions : — " Contagious agalaxy of goats occurs in Algeria. 

 We witnessed in 1908 an outbreak remarkable on account of its sudden- 

 ness and its violence. In three months it killed off 124 out of 450 

 goats, attacking especially the young animals. In the natural disease 

 mammary lesions are constant, articular lesions frequent, while ocular 

 lesions are not observed. Thus animals not producing milk only show 

 ocular symptoms. In the experimental disease the mammary and 

 articular lesions are constant. Ocular lesions were observed in two out 

 of thirteen cases. Inoculation of blood of infected animals did not 

 transmit the disease and did not produce subsequent immunity. Inocu- 

 lation of milk subcutaneously or intraperitonally produces the diseases 

 with certainty in goats. Intraperitoneal inoculation does not infect the 

 guinea-pig or the rat. The virus does not become attenuated by passage. 

 Ingestion of infected milk does not produce the disease. In the out- 

 break studied a polymorphic organism belonging to the Preisz-Nocard 

 group was constantly found in the milk, but not in the blood. The 

 inoculation of cultures of the organism was not pathogenic. This 

 organism is undoubtedly a concomitant parasite of the ultra-microscopic 

 virus discovered by Celli and Dante de Blasi. It does not even seem to 

 play the part filled by Carre's pyobacillus in " mal de Lure." It appears 

 to be merely a secondary invader, following the infection by the specific 

 virus." 



FsBces and Bile of Cholera Cases and Carriers. t — B. C. Crowell 

 and J. A. Johnston have examined the intestinal contents and the bile 

 of 269 cases of cholera and cholera-carriers. In 212 cases of cholera 

 the vibrio was found in the bile in 62*2 p.c, and in the bile only 

 in 5"7 p.c. In thirty-two cholera-carriers, detected after death, 

 the vibrio was found in the bile in 75 p.c, and in the bile alone 

 in 43' 7 p.c In examining u large series of cholera cases the vibrio- 

 may not be recovered from the fasces in a certain number in which it is 

 recovered from the bile. In cholera-carriers the vibrio was present in 

 this series in the bile in 10 p.c. more cases than in cholera cases, and 

 only in the bile in 38 p.c more than in cholera cases. From this the 



* Bull. Soc. Path. .Erot., x. (1917) pp. 575-85. 

 t Philippine Journ. Sci., xii. (1917) pp. 85-103. 



