VETERINARY MEDICINE. 277 



workers in pathology, histology, and bacteriology, and includes directions for 

 performing autopsies and clinical diagnosis by laboratory methods. 



The physiology of parturition, R. F. Bourne (Amer. Jour. Vet. Med., 6 

 (.1911), No. 9, pp. 726-729). — This paper discusses our present knowledge of the 

 subject and its relation to obstetrics. 



Obstetrical aid for large calves in the normal posterior sacral position, 

 W. Becker {Uher die GebiirtsMlfliche Entwickelung su Grosser Kulber in der 

 normalen Hintei'endlage. Inaug. Diss., Univ. Bern, 1909, pp. 2Jf, figs. Jt). — A 

 description of methods of obstetrical aid for large calves in the normal posterior 

 sacral position with and without embryotomy. 



The chemistry of synthetic drugs, P. May {London, 'New York, and Cal- 

 cutta, 1911, pp. XIII+229). — This book contains a description of the chemical 

 nature of synthetic drugs, with particular reference to their pharmacology. 



Use of chloral hydrate in fistula, R. F. Stirling (Vet. Jour., 67 {1911), 

 No. JfSO, pp. 227, 228). — Cotton plugs saturated with a 10 per cent solution of 

 chloral hydrate were found to yield remarkable results for fistulous withers 

 which before had failed to respond to treatment. 



The source of the immune bodies in the lymphs, F. C. Becht and A. B. 

 LucKHARDx (Amer. Jour. Physiol., 27 (1911), No. 4, pp. XI, XII). — The authors 

 studied " the problem of the passage of the antibodies from the blood to the 

 lymphs and other body fluids," with the result that they " find that the anti- 

 bodies — hemolysins, agglutinins, and opsonins — pass at about the same rate 

 from the blood into the lymphs, but they make their appearance in a shorter 

 time in the thoracic than in the cervical lymph. They are nearly always in 

 higher concentration in the former than in the latter, although the reverse may 

 be true occasionally after the experiment has been in progress for several 

 hours. The antibodies hardly pass into the cerebrospinal fluid at all. The 

 same is true of the aqueous humor. The concentration of the antibodies in 

 the various body fluids in the animal rendered passively immune by this method 

 soon reaches an equilibrium, which is the same as that in the actively immun- 

 ized animal of the same degree of immunity. From [their] experiments [the 

 authors] concluded that the source of the antibodies of the lymphs is the blood, 

 and that the antibodies obey the laws of lymph formation as do the other con- 

 • stituents of the lymphs." 



The part played by the spleen in the formation of immune bodies, A. B. 

 LucKHARDT and F. C. Becht (Amer. Jour. Physiol., 27 (1911), No. 4, PP- XVI, 

 XVII). — As a working hypothesis the authors assumed that an animal with a 

 spleen would produce antibodies more rapidly than a splenectomized animal. 



As a result of this work they conclude that " the animals possessed of a 

 spleen produced the specific antibodies (hemolysins, hemagglutinins, and hemop- 

 sonins) more rapidly. The ultimate concentration of these antibodies in the 

 serum was usually much higher than in the splenectomized animal; never was 

 the concentration lower. In this relation of immunity there seems to be no 

 compensation for the spleen, at least within a period of 8 months. Intraperi- 

 toneal introduction of spleen emulsion from dogs immunized 3 to 24 hours pre- 

 viously by an intravenous injection of antigen (goat or rat blood) resulted in 

 the appearance of the specific antibodies in the serum of the recipients. No 

 increase in antibodies was noted in the sera of those animals into whose peri- 

 toneal cavity normal spleen emulsion was introduced. The introduction of 

 ' immune ' heart muscle, liver, bone marrow, and lymph glands did not give posi- 

 tive results. The method of transplantation of the spleen in toto has so far not 

 proved feasible in our hands." 



On the alterations in hemolytic immune-body which, occur during the 

 process of immunization, C. H. Browning and G. H. Wilson (Jour. Hyg. 



