VETERINARY MEDICINE. 187 



description of the apparatus aud methods for preparing hog cholera serum in 

 use at the government laboratory at Kobilnya, a suburb of Budapest, Hungary. 

 The process followed is essentially that devised by tliis Department, with certain 

 modifications in details and apparatus. The table on which hogs are placed for 

 bleeding, apparatus used in bleeding hogs, stall for securing hogs for inoculation 

 with virus, stand for securing hogs for bleeding from the tail, apparatus for 

 siphoning serum after centrifugalization of blood, and apparatus for filling the 

 bottles with serum are described. The directions for the use of the serum are 

 given, and the results obtained in its use, the selection of hogs for the produc- 

 tion of serum, experiments with the simultaneous method of inoculation, the 

 disposal of meat of hogs used in serum production, and price of serum, etc., 

 are briefly discussed. 



Some observations on the clinical symptoms, prophylaxis, and treat- 

 ment of distemper, J. P. McGowan (Vet. Jour., 68 (1012), No. J,39, pp. 7- 

 17). — The author again describes an organism (E. S. R., 24, p. 787) which is 

 " a gram-negative bacillus, aud which shows, when stained by carbol thionin, 

 polar staining or a constriction in the middle. Its length varies from 2.3 fi to 

 0.5 IX., and its breadth from 0.5 fi to 0.4 /x." Its size is particularly variable 

 " when grown in glycerin agar, assuming an almost coccal form." It is only 

 slightly motile, has flagella. and forms no spores. The growth on the surface 

 of agar is very characteristic, showing at the end of 21 hours hardly visible 

 dewdrops, which enlarge very rapidly during the next 24 hours and assume the 

 size of pin-heads which are raised above the surface of the medium and have 

 a porcellaneous appearance with some opalescence. The growth is more 

 rapid on blood agar. The organism renders litmus milic alkaline and produces 

 no gas in saccharine substances and related bodies. As regards pathogenicity, 

 it produces " typical distemper with the rise of temperature with the nasal dis- 

 charge, eye symptoms, and later ' chorea ' and distemper rash. It was produced 

 in one puppy l)y pouring a cultui-o of the organism down its nose; in another 

 pup a much milder form of the disease was produced." It was only lethal for 

 mice. 



The author divides distemper as follows: "(1) Uncomplicated distemper; 

 (2) complicated distemper, [withl subgroups, viz, (a) complications due to 

 spread of infection by the distemper organism to various parts, (b) compli- 

 cations due to added infections by organisms other than the distemper organ- 

 ism, (c) complications due to toxins, (d) complications due to causes other 

 than above; (3) mixtures of the above groups." 



These forms are discussed, together with the prophylactic and curative treat- 

 ment of the disease. 



Further studies on the Bacillus bronchicanis, the cause of canine dis- 

 temper, N. S. Fekry iAmer. Vet. Rev., ^1 {1912), No. 1, pp. 77-79).— Since the 

 publication of the article previously noted (E. S. R., 24, p. 285), it has been 

 found that the disease due to B. bronchicanis may be more widespread among 

 animals than has been thought to be the case. In studies made during the 

 course of an outbreak among laboratory animals, it was found that although 

 the symptoms differ somewhat in various anijnals, yet the primary cause with- 

 out a single exception was due to this organism. 



" In nearly 100 per cent of the cases the B. bronchicanis was found at autopsy 

 in pure culture in the lower trachea. In but a very few of the cases was there 

 any sign of a nasal discharge or any abnormal condition of the eyes. The 

 majority of the rabbits showed symptoms of distemper, commonly called, in the 

 rabbit, ' snuffles,' while but 2 or 3 of the guinea pigs were thus afCected, and 



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