1917] VETERIXARY MEDICIXE. 179 



of Banzhaf s product. To the residues from dialysis the necessary amounts of 

 salt and preservative are added. The final product in bulk is of a reddish- 

 brown color and does not exhibit even a trace of opalescence. 



No difficulty has been encountered in the filtration of these products through 

 pulp or Pasteur-Chamberland filters. The addition of two or three times its 

 bulk of 1 per cent saline does not impair the ease of its filtration. 



The method is claimed to be an improvement on the Gibson-Banzhaf method ^ 

 because of a saving of time, labor, and material ; the potency of the finished 

 product is nearly twice as gi-eat ; and the total loss of antitoxic units need not 

 be greater than 10 per cent. The procedure is also claimed to be superior to 

 the Banzhaf^ one-fraction process for similar reasons. 



The refinement and concentration of antitoxins, P. G. Heinemann (Jour. 

 Infect. Diseases, 19 (1016), ^'o. 3, pp. 4.33-43[>}. — A modified procedure for the 

 preparation of a refined antitoxic serum of higher concentration than could be 

 obtained by any of the earlier methods proposed is described in detail. The 

 serum produced was water-clear (for at least one year) and produced no trace 

 of sediment. It readily passes through Berkefeld filters, and is easily dis- 

 charged through a hypodermic needle. The antitoxic globulins obtained by the 

 new method are easily soluble, and dialysis is consequently rapid. " Plasma of 

 100 and 200 units can be used to advantage, thus being offset the additional 

 expense of production. Nonantitoxic proteins are eliminated in large measure 

 and serum disease, as far as present observations go, is greatly reduced." 



A concentrated hog-cholera serum Avas prepared by the new method, 7 cc. of 

 which afforded ample protection to exposure, while from 20 to 30 cc. of the 

 original material was required. 



Another poisonous Claviceps, J. B. S. Noetox {ticience, n. ser., 43 {1916), 

 1^0. 1121, pp. 894, 895). — The report of experiments by Brown and Ranck on the 

 poisonous action of Claviceps paspali on Paspalum. previously noted (E. S. R., 

 34, p. 676), have led the author to record observations of a similar action of 

 Claviceps found on Paspalum Iteve in Maryland. This fungus was first observed 

 to be very abundant and conspicuous in the summer of 1902. in the autumn of 

 which year a sample was received from a Maryland farmer who had taken it 

 from a field where cattle had died with symptoms of poisoning. " The Claviceps 

 sclerotia which replace the Paspalum grains are frequent in Maryland nearly 

 every year, though in some years almost absent and sometimes, as in 1915, 

 unusually abundant." 



Report of the veterinary director general for the year ended March 31, 

 1914, F, ToRKAXCE {Rpt. Vet. Dir. Gen. Canada, 1914, pp. 147. pis. 10).— In addi- 

 tion to the main report of the veterinary director general (pp. S-28), the 

 reports of veterinary inspectors, etc., are given in 23 appendixes. Of these 

 mention should be made of the following : Report of C. H. Higgins, pathologist 

 at the biological laboratory at Ottawa (pp. 74-81) ; Epizootic Abortion Inves- 

 tigations. — Interim Report (pp. 82-88) and Strangles A'accine (Experimental) 

 (pp. 89-91), by T. C. Evans; Rabies and the Specificity of Negri Bodies (pp. 

 02-95), by A. B. Wickware; Avian Tuberculosis, by C. H. Higgins and A. B. 

 Wickware (pp. 96-102), previously noted (E. S. R., 35. p. 576) ; Entero-hepatitis 

 or Blackhead in Turkeys, by C. H. Higgins, A. B. Wickware, and N. M. Guiou 

 (pp. 103-110) ; report of the pathologist at the veterinary research laboratory at 

 Lethbridge, Alberta, E. A. Watson, on the serum test for dourine, etc. (pp. 

 111-116) ; An Outbreak of Dourine in the Unity District of Saskatchewan, by 

 W. L. Hawke (pp. 117, 118) ; report of the pathologist at the veterinary research 



1 Collected Studies Research Lab. Dept. Health N. Y. City, 3 (1907), pp. 97-107. 

 2Loc. cit., 7 (1912-13), pp. 114-116. 



