278 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol. 3G 



isms in their bodies in a relatively short time, so that they will be safe for 

 the service of noninfected cows. Gows usually acquire the abortion disease 

 from other sources than the genitalia of bulls at the time of service." 



The causative organism, of foot-and-mouth disease, H. Stauffacher 

 (Ztschr. Wiss. ZooL, 115 (1916), No. 1, pp. 1-57, pis. 2, figs. 29; abs. in Jour. 

 Bad., 1 (1916), No. 3, pp. 353-355). — This is a report of investigations at 

 Frauenfeld, Switzerland, in which the author found an organism in the dis- 

 eased tissues and blood of animals suffering from foot-and-mouth disease, to 

 which the name Aphthomonas infestans is given. 



Minute polymorphic structures with an average length of l/j, were found in 

 the lymph and blood of all the 26 infected animals examined, but were never 

 found in similar tissues of normal, healthy animals. The same bodies were 

 found in the freshly-drawn blood, both free in the plasma and within the 

 erythrocytes, of infected animals, thus excluding the possibility that they are 

 products of nuclear and cellular degeneration brought about by the disease. 

 The author has grown these bodies in the condensation water of blood agar 

 culture media and has observed many developmental stages, has inoculated 

 normal cattle with the organisms from the artificial cultures and produced*the 

 disease, and then recovered the organisms from the diseased tissues of the in- 

 oculated animals, thus having fulfilled Koch's postulates for the determination 

 of a causative organism. Two distinct types were observed : One, shorter and 

 thicker, had the characteristic appearance of a flagellated protozoon, with a 

 lancet-formed body which becomes sharply attenuated and drawn out into a 

 long flagellum ; the other was much longer and more thread-like. 



It is pointed out that the intracellular bodies with their varied forms, which, 

 however, are reducible to one general type, are strikingly suggestive of I^eish- 

 mania, particularly L. donovani of kala-azar. 



The review is by G. N. Calkins. 



Investigation on the presence of the tubercle bacillus in milk, E. E. 

 Charles (Rev. Soc. Med. Vet. [Buenos Aires], 2 (1916), No. 1-3, pp. 37-60).— 

 In a hygienic study of the milk supply of Buenos Aires tuberculous lesions 

 were produced by the inoculation of samples of the common milk supply in only 

 1 guinea pig out of a series of 38. It is indicated, however, that these negative 

 I'esults should not be considered conclusive, especially in public health institu- 

 tions. The literature and theoretical and experimental aspects of the subject 

 are discussed in dettiil. 



The clinical value of complement fixation in tuberculosis, H. R. Milleb 

 (Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc, 67 (1916), No. 21, pp. i5/9-i52i).— Tabular data of 

 the results of 1,012 cases of tuberculosis tested with the antigen prepared as 

 previously noted (E. S. R., 36, p. 81) are reported, and the results discussed. 



It is concluded in general that the reaction is practically always positive in 

 active tuberculosis ; nontuberculous and normal patients react negatively ; the 

 sera of syphilitics who have no clinically active tuberculosis are negative ; and 

 the test is, as a rule, negative in arrested cases. " The von Pirquet and intra- 

 dermlc tuberculin tests and the complement-fixation reaction are not identical 

 or similar diagnostic procedures, since the former indicates the existence of a 

 tuberculous lesion whether old and arrested or active, while the latter points 

 clearly to the presence of some active focus." 



The complement-fixation test carried out with the antigen described is con- 

 sidered to be a distinct aid in the diagnosis of early tuberculosis and in the 

 detection of the disease when the condition is obscure. 



A contribution to the chemotherapy of tuberculosis. — First experimental 

 report, (!. Kooa (Jour. Expt. Med., 24 (1916), No. 2, pp. 107-147. pis. 5).— De- 

 tailed experimental results of the treatment of tuberculous guinea pigs with 



