352 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



the pit as dating back to the second century. It was about 10 '4 ni. 

 deep, and from about 3 ' 5 m. from the surface downwards was filled 

 with calcined earth, along with divers objects which had been placed in 

 the pit. This calcined earth had beeu converted into mud by water 

 filtering either from the surface or laterally. Some of this mud was 

 obtained at a depth of 10 • 1 m. with aseptic precautions. It was found 

 to be destitute of diatoms, and therefore not comparable to the mud of 

 the neighbouring marshes. There were present in it, however, certain 

 animal spicules, which were attributed to Acarina parasitic on the fleeces 

 of domestic animals thrown into the pit. A bacteriological examination 

 of the mud demonstrated the presence of numerous micro-organisms. 

 The majority of these were found to be Bac. coli. There were besides 

 strepto-, staphylo-, and diplococci, as well as tetragenous forms. Anae- 

 robes were also present. 



The author is of opinion that these organisms were introduced with 

 the bodies of animals into the pit, and had been preserved there as in a 

 closed vessel during eighteen centuries. 



Hemorrhagic Septicaemia in Animals.* — P. G. Woolley and J. 

 W. Jobling have issued a report on an outbreak of hemorrhagic septi- 

 caemia occurring in a herd of cattle (Caraboas) arriving in Manila from 

 Shanghai. In the cases observed they found three pathological types : 

 the pulmonary type, in which the lesions resemble those of broncho- 

 pneumonia ; the rapidly fatal septicemic type, with few macroscopic 

 changes ; and the glandular and suppurative type, which terminates in 

 general infection. In all types there were more or less wide-spread 

 hemorrhagic lesions. From all similar organisms have been isolated, 

 of which the characters are as follows : short bacilli, with rounded ends, 

 polar staining, occasionally encapsulated and non-motile, non-liquefying, 

 non-Gram-staining, growing invisibly on potato, not producing gas, not 

 coagulating milk or reducing litmus, producing indol and nitrites, and 

 not forming spores. 



Some Pulmonary Lesions Produced by the Bacillus of Hemor- 

 rhagic Septicemia of Caraboas.f — P. G. YToolley describes three cases, 

 two in Caraboas and one in a native horse, of invasion of the lungs by 

 the bacillus of hemorrhagic septicemia. One of the two former he 

 regards as a pure case of the infectious type of pleuro-pneumonia ; the 

 other two presented appearances similar to those of broncho-pneumonia 

 in the stages of red and grey hepatisation and suppuration. The author 

 suspects that the pulmonary invasion was subsequent to a bronchitis in 

 all ihree cases, and that the bacilli gained access to the lungs from the 

 upper air passages. He regards it also as certain that in all of the cases 

 death was the result of a terminal septicemia, incident to the entrance 

 into the blcod-stream of the organisms which were present in the lesions 

 of the lunsrs. 



■a' 



Bacterial origin of the forms of the Arabin Group : the Par- 

 arabin form of Sterculia (Bact. pararabinum, sp, n,).| — P. Greig Smith 



* Report, 1903, No. 12, Dept. Interior Bureau Govt. Lab. Manila, 1904. 

 f Op. cit., No. 9. % Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., xxviii. (1903) pp. 541-52. 



