1918] VETERINARY MEDICINE. 379 



of toxin was secured by the use of a veal broth medium instead of sterile rabbit 

 muscle. Finelj'^ chopped veal was added to a 0.1 per cei^ glucose, +0.5 reaction, 

 and autoclaved at 110° C. for 30 minutes. By the use of this medium the 

 complication of technique was considerably reduced and a toxin concentration 

 obtained as great as by any other procedure. 



II. The mechanism of infection tvith B. vjclchii, P. H. DeKruif and J. L. 

 Bollman. — The results of the study reported showed that " bacilli removed 

 from broth cultures by centrifugation and subsequently washed with large 

 volumes of 0.85 per cent NaCl are far less infectious than equal numbers of 

 organisms not separated from the medium in which they have grown. The 

 virulence of washed organisms is increased at least 10,000-fold by the simul- 

 taneous injection of nonlethal amounts of neutralized culture filtrate. This 

 aggressive activity of the culture filtrate is destroyed by heating to 70° for 30 

 minutes, and by the addition of the specific Welch antitoxin." 



From these results it is concluded that the aggressin of the filtrate and the 

 toxin are identical. " This conclusion is strengthened by the fact that sublethal 

 amounts of toxin made by the muscle culture method show a similar aggressive 

 effect, which is likewise neutralized by the addition of antitoxin. Nonspecific 

 culture filtrates from cholera and proteus cultures do not Increase the viru- 

 lence of washed bacilli. The aggressive substance (toxin) seems to act by 

 reason of its necrotic effect and not by a negative chemotactic influence on 

 leucocytes." 



The prophylactic and therapeutic properties of the antitoxin for Bacillus 

 welchii, C. G. Bull (Jour. Expt. Med., 26 (1911), No. 4, pp. 603-611).— "It 

 has been possible to confer on guinea pigs a passive immunity of about two 

 weeks' duration to B. welchii toxin through a protective administration of the 

 antitoxin. Guinea pigs which had received a prophylactic dose of B. ivelchii 

 antitoxin exhibited pronounced resistance to infection with the virulent bacilli 

 for a period of 12 days. Established infections in guinea pigs with B. welchii 

 have been arrested and controlled by treatment with the antitoxin." 



Possibilities of the prevention of B. welchii infection in man through the 

 prophylactic use of the antitoxin and the control of developed cases of the 

 infection by therapeutic injections of the antitoxin are noted. 



The colon-aerogenes group from silage, O. W. Hunter (Jour. Bact.,2 (1917), 

 No. 6, pp. 635-639). — A study of 95 coli-like cultures isolated from different 

 kinds of silage (alfalfa, Kafir corn, and corn) and 15 from the growing fields 

 of alfalfa and Kafir corn, made by the author at the Kansas Experiment Station, 

 showed 48.18 per cent of the organisms to be Bacillus lactis cerogenes, 30.9 per 

 cent B. coli communior, 10.9 per cent B. coli communis, and 10 per cent B. lactis 

 acidi, 



" Classified according to origin, as differentiated by methyl red, 79.08 per 

 cent were nonfecal strains, while 20.9 per cent were of fecal origin. All the 

 strains represented by the B. coli communis and B. lactis addi groups were 

 fecal types, while the organisms included in the groups represented by B. coU 

 communior and B. lactis cerogenes were nonfecal strains. A correlation be- 

 tween the Voges-Proskauer reaction and the hydrogen-ion concentration was 

 observed in all cultures. Litmus milk was coagulated by 90.9 per cent of all 

 fecal strains, while 98.5 per cent of the nonfecal types exhibited only an acid 

 reaction." 



Properties of the serum of animals hyperimmunized against glanders and 

 the choice of animals for the preparation of a serum rich in glanders anti- 

 bodies, E. Bektetti and G. FiNzi (Atti R. Accad. Ldncei, Rend. CI. Sci. Fis., 

 Mat. e Nat., 5. ser., 26 (1917), II, No. 5, pp. 131-135) .—From the work reported 

 the authors conclude that it is possible to obtain from various animals (ox. 



