lOlS] VETERINARY MEDICINE. 783 



2 mm. thick fastened aseptically on tlie outer wall of a test tube. The cylinder 

 of nutritive material can be rolled over the wound or skin to be examined 

 and the organisms thus fixed on the surface grown, counted, and identified. 



The technique of the preparation of the cylinder is described. 



Ptomaines and war wounds, A. Beethelot {Compt. Raid. Acad. Sci. 

 [Paris}, 166 {1918), No. J,, pp. 187-1S9).— The author suggests the possibility 

 that the formation of ptomaines in war wounds may be one of the causes 

 of auto-intoxication which aggravates the condition of certain severe wounds. 

 In verifying this hypothesis he has shown by test-tube experiments that toxic 

 ptomaines, particularly imidazoethylamin, may be formed by the action on the 

 blood of proteolytic and decarboxylating organisms present in war wounds. 



The hematoxin of Bacillus welchii (B. perfringens), A. Oukanoff (Compt. 

 Rend. Soc. Biol. [Paris], 80 (1917), No. 15, pp. 706-708; abs. in CJiem. Abs., 12 

 (1918), No. 1, pp. 63, 64). — The following conclusions ai-e drawn from a study 

 of several strains of B. icelchii: 



Strains of B. tvelchii isolated from different wound infections have the 

 property of secreting a hematoxin which acts upon the erythrocytes of various 

 animals. The faculty of producing hematoxin is characteristic of the strains 

 of B. welchii in dilTerent degrees. The same strain can temporarily lose its 

 faculty of producing hematoxin and recover it later. The hematoxin is 

 destroyed by heating for half an hour at 60° C. and by keeping in strong 

 light for several days, but it may be kept for several months at a temperature 

 of 14 to 15° or at a temperature near zero. On filtering through Chamberland 

 or Berkefeld filters a part of the hematoxin remains on the filter. 



Phenomena of hemoglobinuria have been observed in rabbits and young 

 dogs which have died following injection of B. welchii hematoxin, thus proving 

 the intravital destruction of erythrocytes by this toxin. The serum of the 

 animals studied (man, pig, dog, horse, cow, sheep, guinea pig, rabbit, and 

 chicken) diminishes the action of the hematoxin. Prolonged hyperimmunity in 

 horses by cultures of B. icelchii increases considerably tlie action of serum on 

 the hematoxin, showing that the production of antihematoxin becomes more 

 intense under the influence of the introduction of B. icelchii into the organism. 

 Increase in antihemolytic titer toward the hematoxin of B. icelchii is not 

 observed in the serum of horses hyperimmunized by the organisms of putrefac- 

 tion (B. protcus vulgari and B. sporogenes) . During filtration through Cham- 

 berland filters of the serum of normal horses and those hyperimmunized by 

 cultures of B. icelchii, a large part of the antihematoxin remains on the filter. 

 Cultures of B. icelchii devoid for various reasons of hemolytic properties often 

 present the phenomena of hemagglutination. 



The developmental cycle of the Bothriocephalus latus, C. Janicxi and 

 P. Rosen (Corresp. Bl. Schweiz. Arzte, 47 (1917), No. 45, pp. 1505-1516; abs. in 

 Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc, 69 (1917), No. 26, p. 2212). — In work at the labora- 

 tories of the universities of Lausanne and Neuchatel the authors found that 

 the larvte of (If.) Dibothriocephalvs latus are ingested by Cyclops strennus and 

 Diaptomus gracilis, which are eaten by fish, and thus the parasite finds its 

 way to man, dog, and cat. Each of the five phases of the cycle may take from 

 three to four weeks. 



Wohlfartia magnifica, a sarcophagid parasitizing' man, L. GouGH (Bvl. 

 Soc. Ent. Egypte, 10 (1917), No. 1, pp. 25-.25).— The author records the collec- 

 tion of W. magniflca from the orbits and from ulcers behind the ears of pa- 

 tients in the ophthalmic hospitals at Sheybeen-el-Koom, Kafr-el-Dawar, 

 Zagazeeg, Mahalla-el-Koubra, and Damanhoor. 



