384 EXPERIMENT STATION RECOED. [Vol.38 



ing B. botulinus. This organism was recovered from a horse after death fol- 

 lowing a fatal artificial infection. Antitoxic serum prepared against B. botu- 

 linus apparently provided protection in guinea pigs, administered intraperi- 

 toneally, and in horses, administered intravenously, against infection by the 

 mouth with a lethal amount of the organism isolated from the cecum of [the 

 horse referred to above]. The sterile broth culture filtrate of the organism 

 isolated from this horse proved fatal to horses after ingestion. Antitoxic 

 serum prepared against B. botulinus, administerefl intravenously, apparently 

 afforded protection against lethal amounts of this filtrate. 



" An anaerobic organism resembling B. botulinus, isolated from water in 

 which the oat hay had been immersed proved fatal to horses, mules, and guinea 

 pigs, when administered by the mouth. B. botulinus antitoxic serum admin- 

 istered intravenously and subcutaneously to horses and mules and intraperi- 

 toneally to guinea pigs, apparently provided protection in these animals against 

 a lethal infection, per os, of the organism isolated from the water in which the 

 oat hay had been immersed. The sterile filtrate from a broth culture of the 

 organism isolated frum the oat hay proved fatal to horses, after ingestion, and 

 botulism antitoxic serum, administered intravenously, proved efticacious in pro- 

 tecting horses against a lethal quantity of the filtrate, administered by the 

 mouth. 



" Several horses receiving prophylactic injections of B. botulinus antitoxic 

 serum consumed water, for 30 days, from the barrel in which the oat hay was 

 immersed without noticeable effect, at the end of which time a lethal amount of 

 the organism isolated from the oat hay water was also consumed with impunity. 

 In one horse antitoxic serum apparently did not afford protection against the 

 oat hay water. For a period of 30 days three horses consumed the water in 

 which the oat hay was immersed without noticeable effect^ but succumbed after 

 ingesting a lethal amount of the organism resembling B. botulinus isolated from 

 the oat hay. 



" The definite, morphological, cultural, and serological characters of the 

 organism isolated from the experimental horse [previously mentioned] and of 

 the organism isolated from the oat hay water closely ally them to B. botu- 

 linus and to our knowledge constitutes the first time this, or an allied anaerobic 

 organism, has been definitely established as an etiologic factor in forage 

 poisoning." 



Studies in forage poisoning. — VI, An anaerobic organism isolated from 

 silage of etiologic significance, R. Gkaham, A. L. Brueckneb, and K. L. 

 Pontius {Kentucky Sta. Bui. 208 (1917), pp. 117-138, figs. 7).— This is a re- 

 port of investigations of forage poisoning carried on in connection with those 

 above noted. The present paper deals with studies made of an anaerobic 

 organism isolated from corn silage during the course of an outbreak of forage 

 poisoning in Carroll County, Ky., which resulted in the loss of a number of 

 mules. The causative organism isolated from the silage was an anaerobic spore- 

 bearing bacillus possessing morphological and cultural charcteristics resembling 

 those of Bacillus botulinus. 



" In preliminary tests the unfiltered broth culture of this organism, ad- 

 ministered by the mouth, proved pathogenic for guinea pigs and a mule. The 

 filtered broth culture, administered by the mouth, proved fatal to guinea pigs, 

 two horses, and a mule. A protection was provided by administering botulism 

 antitoxin to guinea pigs and horses against a lethal amount of the organism in 

 broth or the sterile filtrate of broth culture of the organism in question. Serum 

 Immune to the bacillus isolated from the silage proved efficacious in protecting 

 guinea pigs against a fatal artificial infection of B. botulinus, as well as against 



