EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS. 275 



this project. Mr. L. C. Ludhim resigned at the close of the year (August 

 31, 191G), too late for us to fill his place satisfactorily. H. J. Stafseth, 

 graduate assistant, was put in charge of the work and it has been pos- 

 sible for us to so estimate his ability and determine his qualifications 

 that we felt safe in recommending him for this position. Dr. Stafseth 

 will pursue the studies with special reference to hog cholera during the 

 coming year. During the past year he has made preparatory studies 

 which will enable him to enter \i\)on his duties without delay. He has 

 made a great many investigations for the State Live Stock Sanitary 

 Commission and for others in the State. A considerable number of cases 

 of avian tuberculosis has been determined. 



Mr. Huddleson submits the following report of the work that he has 

 directed and accomplished during the past year: 



''My time has been devoted largely to investigations in bovine in- 

 fectious abortion. Other work will be reported as miscellaneous. The 

 completion of the experimental barn at the beginning of the year has 

 greatly facilitated the investigation in this problem. There are now 

 housed in the barn thirteen animals, including bulls and calves. Each 

 animal has been used in the different problems throughout the year. I 

 hope that we may be in a position to add at least twenty more heifers to 

 our herd this year in order to carry out the problem of immunization 

 on a more extensive scale. 



"The Study of the Transmission of Bact. ahortus to New Born Calves 

 Through the Ingestion of Milk" was taken up during the year 1915 under 

 the direction of Mr. L. H. Cooledge. A preliminary report (A Study of 

 the Milk in Bovine Infectious Abortion, by Ward Giltner, L. H. Cool- 

 edge and I. F. Huddleson) was read (by AV. C) at the Annual Meeting 

 of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Detroit, August 22, 

 1916. The investigation has since been continued, and a paper embody- 

 ing the results and entitled, 'The Transmission of Bact. abort us (Bang) 

 Through the Ingestion of Milk' was read by the writer at the Annual 

 Meeting of the Michigan Academy of Science, March 29, 1917. The 

 work will appear elsewhere in this report as Technical Bulletin No. 



"A technical article entitled 'The Specific and Non-Specific Action of 

 Babbit Blood Serum in the Complement Fixation Test' was j)ublislied 

 in the Journal of Immunology, A'ol. 2, No. 2, February, 1917. A sum- 

 mary of the article follows: 



"Rabbits do not develop antibodies in their blood for Bact. abortus 

 when fed continually upon naturally infected milk (milk reacting to 

 the agglutination and complement fixation tests for Bact. abortus). 



"The blood sera of normal rabbits possess the j)roperty of fixing com- 

 plement non-specifically in the presence of Bact. abortus antigen. This 

 property is not explainable at this time. 



"The problems which Avere outlined and to which considerable study 

 has been given during the year are as follows : 



1. The immunization of cows and heifers against infectious abor- 



tion. 

 (a) The same applied to guinea pigs. 



2. The length of time Bact. abortus survives when introduced into : 



(a) The uterus of cows. 



(b) The vagina of cows. 



(c) The sheath of bulls. 



