VETERINARY SCIENCE AND PRACTICE. 718 



immunity to rinderpest and thai plain cattle may be immunized by Koch's bile 

 method while hill cattle can not. 



It. was found during the author's experiments that a bile precipitate which had 

 been inoculated together with rinderpest blood when washed and dissolved in a 1 

 per cent solution of carbonate of soda neutralizes the virus of rinderpest blood when 

 exposed for several hours in vitro. It was found that plains cattle could be well 

 protected against subcutaneous injections of virulent blood after receiving subcuta- 

 neous injections of normal bile at intervals of a few days for 4 times or by receiving 

 a soda solution of the precipitate obtained from normal cattle bile by the use of 

 Almen's tannin solution. 



Similar results were obtained by the use of an aqueous solution extracted from 

 bovine testes, subsequently filtered and precipitated with acetic acid. This precipi- 

 tate when dissolved in a 1 per cent solution of carbonate of soda did not confer 

 immunity on hill cattle but protected plain cattle successfully. The seeds of a consid- 

 erable variety of pumpkins grown at high elevation were then ground and a solu- 

 tion prepared, after which a precipitate was obtained by the addition of acetic acid. 

 This precipitate when dissolved in 1 per cent solution of sodium carbonate gave 

 similar results to those obtained by the methods just mentioned. 



The agglutination of anthrax bacteria by a specific serum, G. Sobeenheim 

 (Deut. Med. Wchnschr., 30 {1904), No. 41, pp. 1501, 1502).— The author carried out a 

 series of experiments for the purpose of testing the value of results reported by 

 Carini regarding the agglutination of anthrax bacilli by specific serum in very dilute 

 solutions. 



As a result of these experiments the author is unable to recognize a specific agglu- 

 tinating action of anthrax serum. According to his observations, anthrax bacilli are 

 not regularly agglutinated under the influence of immune serum, and moreover are 

 sometimes agglutinated in quite a pronounced manner by normal serum. The 

 agglutinating power of an anthrax serum appears to vary exceedingly, and this varia- 

 tion is so regular that the agglutination can not be placed in the same category with 

 more definite processes of this sort. 



The most weighty argument against Carini's contentions appears to be the fact 

 already cited that normal serum usually possesses the same agglutinating power 

 toward anthrax bacilli as immune serum. 



A trypanosoma found in blood of cattle in India, Durrant and J. D. E. 

 Holmes (Jour. Comp. Path, and Ther., 17 (1904), No. 3, ]>p. 209, 210, pi. 1).—A 

 species of trypanosoma was discovered during a post-mortem examination of a bull 

 which had been used for experimental purposes. The organism resembled some- 

 what that described by A. Theiler as affecting cattle in South Africa. No inocula- 

 tion experiments were possible on account of the decomposed condition of the blood 

 at the time when the trypanosoma was discovered. 



Foot-rot of sheep: Its nature, cause, and treatment, J. R. Mohlek and H. J. 

 Washburn ( U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Animal Industry Bui. 63, pp. 39, pis. 3, fig. 1). — 

 Foot-rot is used by the authors as indicating the contagious form of foot-rot due to 

 Bacillus necrophorus. The date of the first appearance of this disease in America is 

 not known. The symptoms of the disease are described in detail. Sheep become 

 lame and a purulent process extends under the horny covering of the foot and leads 

 to fistulous passages and other lesions. The bacillus of necrosis has also been found 

 to be the cause of foot-rot in reindeer. Contagion spreads quite rapidly among the 

 various sheep in a herd. 



The authors tried an experiment in cultivating the necrosis bacillus and in testing 

 its virulence for sheep and other experimental animals. It was found possible to 

 transmit foot-rot readily from diseased to healthy sheep by the use of mixed cultures 

 as well as by pus obtained from the diseased surface. The experiments in question 

 are described in detail. The organism was found to be pathogenic for sheep when 



