84 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



results so far obtained is tlie total lack of agreement between the reports of 

 the different workers." "As a preliminary to this work, examinations of blood 

 taken from normal animals and human beings were made. In this way speci- . 

 mens from 13 horses, 9 goats, and 3 laboratory workers were examined with 

 negative findings in all cases." 



In the main experiments blood was obtained from patients (human beings) 

 giving a history of tubercle bacilli in the sputum. The Kinyoun ligroin method 

 was used for the determination of the tubercle bacilli. " In all, blood speci- 

 mens were taken from 50 tuberculous patients, 2 specimens obtained from 1 

 individual, 1 month apart, making a total of 51 specimens examined. Of these, 

 13 were from patients in the second stage, and 38 from patients in the third 

 stage of the disease, 4 of the latter being bed patients. Six patients have since 

 died, the first 3 at intervals of from 17 days to 1 month, the last 3 in from 1 

 month to 5 weeks after the taking of the blood specimens." 



Careful search was made for tubercle bacilli but in all cases the results 

 were absolutely negative and no acid-fast organisms of any kind were found 

 in the smears. A few rods were occasionally seen but never any which showed 

 acid-fast staining properties. " Owing to the invariably negative microscopic 

 results, no animals were inoculated, as it had been thought best to wait for 

 some positive indications from the microscopic work before beginning animal 

 tests." 



A review of the literature is embodied in the article 



The elimination of tubercle bacilli in the feces of tuberculous bovines, C. 

 TiTZE, H. Thiekingek, and E. Jahn (Arl). K. Gsndhtsamt., 45 (1913), No. 1, 

 pp. 1-34). — Following a review of the literature on this subject, especially of 

 the work reported by Schroeder and Cotton (E. S. R., 19, p. 181), the insuffi- 

 ciency of information relative to how often the feces of bovines, showing no 

 signs of clinical tuberculosis but giving a tuberculin reaction, eliminate tubercle 

 bacilli is emphasized. 



In the experiments reported by the authors it was necessary to use the anti- 

 formin method because the feces were found to contain other micro-organisms 

 which often caused the untimely death of a number of guinea pigs. Some 

 of these were Gram-positive and resembled the micro-organisms producing 

 braxy in sheep ; others were Gram-negative, among which were some identified 

 as belonging to the coll group, staphylococci, and streptococci. The strength 

 of the antiformin used was a 15 per cent solution, with an exposure of from 

 2 to 4 hours. The exposure of tubercle bacilli to antiformin for 36 hours did 

 not affect the virulence nor the acid fastness of these organisms. 



The feces from 96 bovines were tested for the presence of tubercle bacilli, 

 and the results show that under certain conditions tubercle bacilli may be 

 eliminated with the feces of tubercular animals having open pulmonary tuber- 

 culosis. This is probably due to these animals swallowing some of the sputum 

 and passing the bacilli per rectum. In animals giving only a tuberculin re- 

 action and showing no clinical evidence of tuberculosis, tubercle bacilli were 

 never found in the feces, therefore the conclusions of Schroeder and Cotton 

 and of the British commission (E. S. R., 21, p. 481) could not be confirmed. 

 Pigs are deemed more easily Infected by the droppings of tubercular bovines 

 than bovines themselves. 



The detailed protocols of all the experiments are given in the article. 



Protecting influence of protein diet against tuberculosis, O. Hornemann 

 and E. Thomas (Dciit. Me<l. ^Vchmchl•., 39 (U113). Xo. .',8, pp. 234-5, 2346; ahs. 

 in Jour. A met: Med. Assoc, 62 U9H), No. 2, p. i6.9).— Young pigs fed syste- 

 matically with casein were much more resistant toward the disease conveyed by 



