694 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



potato, its slow growth on gelatin, its great mobility, by its inability to ferment 

 lactose and to coagulate milk, and by its producing little or no indol or carbonic 

 acid, as well as by tbe absence of any disagreeable odor from peptone bouillon or 

 from gelatin cultures. Its serum reaction distinguishes it from the typhoid germ. 

 The agglutination of fat is much less strongly marked and of a different character. 



Plague bacillus, M. Ogata (Centbl. Bakt. u. Par., 1. AM., 21 (1897), pp. 769-777; 

 abs. in Jour. Boy. Micros. Soc. [London], 1897, No. 5, pp. 426, 427). — As a result of the 

 author's observations made on plague patients in Formosa, it appears that an organ- 

 ism is constantly found in plague corpses in the lymphatic glands of plague patients 

 ■which reproduces in animals a disease very closely resembling the plague. The 

 presence of the plague bacillus is not constant in the blood of the plague patients. 

 It may be found in the urine and bile of plague corpses; it may be transported by 

 the flea and mosquito; it is constantly found in the blood and viscera of rats, natu- 

 rally or artificially infected with the plague, and fleas feeding upon such rats often 

 contain virulent bacilli. In patients other bacilli may be also present. It is but 

 little resistent to antiseptics. 



Preventive vaccination against blackleg, D. E. Salmon ( U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau 

 of Animal Industry Circ. 20, pp. 2). 



Directions for the use of blackleg vaccine, D. E. Salmon ( U. S. Dipt. Agr., 

 Bureau of Animal Industry Circ. 21, pp. 8, figs. 2). — The method of preparing the vac- 

 cine in the laboratory of this Bureau is described, as well as the method of using it, 

 noting in the latter case what animals are to be vaccinated and the size of the dose 

 to be injected. A reprint of Circular 20 of the Bureau is appended. 



Micrococcus ghadiallii, Giiadially (Brit. Med. Jour., 1897, Xo. 2, pp. 41S-419 ; abs. 

 in Jour. Boy. Micros. Soc. [London], 1897, No. 2, p. 428).— The author has discovered a 

 coccus which has the power of slowly destroying the microbe of enteric fever in water 

 and milk and also to a slight extent in bouillon. Bacillus coll communis in water also 

 seems to be destroyed by it. Iu the experiments the enteric microbes were acclima- 

 tized before inoculation with the micrococcus. 



The fate of the tetanus toxin, A. Makie (Ann. Inst. Pasteur, 11 (1897), pp. 

 591-599). — Tbe fact that a tetanus toxin iujected into a vein requires a dose 7 to 8 

 times greater to kill the animal than if injected under the skin the author explains 

 by stating that this toxin is easily and effectively carried to the central nervous 

 system along nerve paths. In the circulation the plasma of the blood and the blood 

 cells very materially alter the poison. It may remain in the blood for some time. 



Aspergillus fumigatus on domestic animals, etc., A. Lucet (De I' Aspergillus 

 fumigatus chez les animaux domestiques et dans les mifs en incubation. Paris: Mendel, 

 ISO?, pp. 108, pis. 14). 



Resorption of bacteria after local infection, J. Halban (Sitzber. Math. Xaturiv. 

 CI. Alcad. Wiss. [Vienna], 105 (1896), pp. 349-452, pis. 2).— From experiments the 

 author is able to say that the time required for different species of bacteria to reach 

 the nearest lymphatic glands from the spot of inoculation varies with the bacteri- 

 cidal power of the alexin, being slower when that power is strong and quicker when 

 it is weak. The time required to reach the blood is very variable. It was ascer- 

 tained that an infection of a bleeding wound may remain local for about 21 hours 

 in the case of anthrax. 



Excretion of bacteria by the animal body, F. J. Cotton (Sitzber. Math. Xaturw. 

 Cl.Akad. Wiss. [Jicnna], 105 (1S96), pp. 453-512 ; abs. Jour. Boy . Micros. Soc. [London], 

 1897, Xo. 5, p. 426). — Employing rabbits, the author made a series of experiments to 

 ascertain the conditions under which and the time and in what quantity bacteria 

 are excreted in the bile and in the intestine after intravenous injection. Bacillus 

 anthracis, B. subtilis, />'. prodigiosus, B. pneumonia', Staphylococcus aureus, and IHplococ. 

 eus pneumoniae were employed. From the results it is concluded that certain bacteria 

 when present in large numbers in the blood may be excreted by the bile without 

 perceptible changes taking place in the liver or bile ducts, but that almost neces- 

 sarily large numbers of bacteria in the bile is associated with pathological changes. 



