286 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Experiments to ascertain if the domestic fowl of Uganda may act as a 

 reservoir of the virus of sleeping sickness (Trypanosoma gambiense), D, 

 Bruce et al. {Proc. Roy. Soc. [London], Scr. B, 83 {1011), No. B 5GJ,, pp. 328, 

 S29). — The experiments here reported show that the Uganda fowl can not act 

 as a reservoir for the virus of sleeping sickness. 



Notes on a human trypanosome transferable to animals in northern Rho- 

 desia, L. E. W. Bevan {Vet. Jour., 67 {1911), No. Jt27, pp. Jtl-Jf7).—A trypano- 

 some which has been definitely identified as Trypanosoma vivax was isolated 

 fi'om a European arriving in southern Rhodesia from the northern part of the 

 colony. Laboratory animals, a sheep, and a mule were readily infected through 

 inoculation of the virus. 



Auto-agglutination of red blood cells in trypanosomiasis, W. Yobke {Ann. 

 Trap. Med. and, Par., If {1911), No. Jf, pp. 529-552). — ^Auto- and iso-agglutinin 

 are present in the blood of cases of sleeping sickness and of animals infected 

 with trypanosomiasis. Keaction between auto-agglutinin and red blood cells 

 takes place only at low temperatures. Auto-agglutinin can be removed from 

 plasma by absorption with the erythrocytes of the same animal at 0° C. The 

 reaction between auto-agglutinin and red blood cells is reversible. Auto-agglu- 

 tinin exists in small amounts in the blood of many normal animals. Auto, iso, 

 and hetero agglutinin are frequently present in much greater amount in the 

 blood of infected animals than in that of normal animals, and it is due to this 

 fact that clumping of the red blood cells is often visible in fresh cover-slip prep- 

 arations of the blood of iufectetl animals. From the red blood cells of an in- 

 fected animal which have been agglutinated in the cold by the plasma of the 

 same animal an active substance can be extracted with normal saline solution 

 at 37°. This substance agglutinates not only the red cells of the same animal 

 and other members of the same species but also those of many animals of dif- 

 ferent species. 



" It is to be inferred from the information at present available that a marked 

 degree of auto-agglutination of the red blood cells is an extremely rare occur- 

 rence apart from an infection with trypanosomes." 



The reaction curve of the human and the bovine type of the tubercle bacil- 

 lus in glycerin bouillon, T.-Smith (Jour. 2Icd. Research, 23 {1910), No. 2, pp. 

 185-20 'i, dgms. 5). — The basic principles involved in this work have been previ- 

 ously noted (E. S. R., 17, p. 294), but in this article the author has gone over 

 his methods again and determined more precisely the conditions which will 

 make uniform results possible. In addition to this, he reviews the results 

 obtained by others with the method. He also tested the correctness of Duval's 

 theory that the acid production by the tubercle bacillus is due to autolytic 

 processes following the death of the bacilli which act upon the glycerin molecule. 



The results of these tests indicated that " wherever growth was definitely 

 checked by chloroform or heat and the culture remained free from outside con- 

 tamination the change in reaction was usually in the direction of a higher 

 acidity. This change was slight, from to 0.8 per cent ad maximum. At the 

 termination of the test, usually from two to three months after the treatment 

 of the culture by heat or otherwise, the bacillar mass was collected and sub- 

 jected to centrifugal action to determine the amount. The control cultures 

 which were left to finish their growth contained as a rule twice, as much bacillar 

 deposit as those heated or chloroformetl or exposed to water, salt solution, etc. 

 The amount of acid production in them was, however, five to seven times as 

 great as that which took place after the cultures had been checked." 



The author, however, is not inclined to adopt the Duval hypothesis, and still 

 coincides with Siebert in his belief that the second part of the reaction curve is 

 largely agsgci^ted with the life processes, and that very little is due to the 



