50 THE BUREAU OF SCIENCE 



infections, but that this animal is the chief source of infection 

 of man with Balmitidium coli and, probably, also with Strong- 

 yloides stercoralis. 



Outbreak of disease in Ambos Camannes. — In October an 

 expedition was made to Buhi, Ambos Camarines, to study an 

 unusual epidemic disease reported by a local health officer. 

 Several fatal cases had occurred previous to the expedition, and 

 about 18 cases of a peculiar inflammatory disease said to be 

 the same as that causing earlier fatal cases were found. These 

 cases were studied clinically, and microscopical examinations and 

 animal inoculations were made. Plague and anthrax were ex- 

 cluded. The positive findings were few, except that pyogenic 

 organisms were demonstrated in the lesions. The disease may 

 be a remarkable type of pyogenic infection or possibly pyogenic 

 bacteria may simply accompany this disease of unknown cause. 



Artesian wells. — Bacteriological examinations of 35 artesian 

 wells in the Provinces of Bulacan, Rizal, and Cavite, with the 

 object of determining if any are subject to pollution, resulted 

 in the discovery that all flowing wells have water of extra- 

 ordinary bacterial purity, approaching, if not attaining, sterility 

 in most cases. The nonflowing wells examined also show low 

 bacterial count and no signs of pollution except in the well at 

 Bocaue, where there is strong evidence of pollution. 



Sickness at Cabanatuan. — Unfinished investigation of en- 

 teritis, with personal experience with the disease, occurring on 

 a hacienda near Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, indicates toxins of 

 bacterial origin occurring in the milk of a certain cow as the 

 cause. Dysentery, mineral poison occurring in the well, or 

 ptomaines other than those formed in milk or cream seem well 

 excluded. 



Locust-exterminating bacter'ium. — Coccobacillus acridiorum 

 d'Herelle, of which a culture was obtained from Argentine Re- 

 public by the Honorable, the Secretary of the Interior, has been 

 used in a series of inoculation tests and in ingestion experiments 

 on locusts — in pens in the laboratory and in swarms in the open 

 field — in nearly all stages of development and under various 

 conditions of weather. The practical results have been negative. 

 In the very few partially positive field experiments the percentage 

 of insects that died was small and there seemed no tendency 

 for the infection to spread in the swarm. If this infection has 

 succeeded elsewhere, its failure here may be due (1) to meteor- 

 ologic conditions or (2) to a difference in the species of locust. 

 Mr. C. R. Jones of the Bureau of Agriculture cooperated with 

 us in this work. 



