922 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Human and bovine tuberculosis contrasted {British Med. .lour., MO.',, No. .'.">■!, 

 jij>. 1596, 1597 ). —A brief statement is made of the preliminary announcement of t lie 

 German commission regarding its investigations on tuberculosis. It is stated that 2 

 distinct forms of tubercle bacilli, the human and the bovine, must be recognized. In 

 avast majority of cases it is held that human tuberculosis is contracted from man, but 

 that, on account of the possibility of the transmission of bovine tuberculosis to man, 

 it would be unwise to do away with the precautions which have already been adopted 

 in the treatment of tuberculous milk and meat. 



Human and bovine tuberculosis, A. Borrel {Rev. Yil. Toulouse, ,.'!> {1904), No, 

 II, />/>. 725-731). — The literature bearing on this controversial question is briefly 

 reviewed. The author believes that the experiments thus far reported do not add 

 any weight to the opinion that human and bovine tubercle bacilli are distinct species. 

 The facts observed may be more easily explained by assuming that the 2 forms of 

 tuberculosis are due to the adaptation of the tubercle bacillus to different conditions 

 in different organisms. 



The suppression of tuberculosis, E. von Behrino, trans, by C. Bolduan ( New 

 York: John Wiley & Sons, 1904, pp. 85). — In this book a few articles by Professor von 

 Behring on the subject of tuberculosis have been brought together and translated. 

 The most important article is from a lecture delivered in Cassel. 



The subjects discussed include the general suppression of tuberculosis, observations 

 concerning the development of pulmonary tuberculosis in man and animals, sugges- 

 tions concerning the hygiene of cow stables and the production of milk for infant 

 feeding, synopsis of the methods of making protective inoculations of cattle in agri- 

 cultural practice, and conditions concerning the distribution of protective virus. The 

 author elaborates his views concerning the means of transmission of tuberculosis from 

 man to man and animal to animal. 



Experiments in immunization toward tuberculosis, P. Baumgakikn ( Berlin. 

 Klin. Wchnschr., 41 (1904), No. 43, pp. 1124, 1125).— Since 1902 the author in coop- 

 eration with Dr. Hegler has carried on experiments in immunizing cattle and 

 rabbits toward tuberculosis. 



In these experiments it was found that by the use of human tubercle bacilli cattle 

 could be immunized against cultures of bovine tubercle bacilli which were fatal for 

 control animals. This immunity has persisted for 2\ years without sign of diminu- 

 tion. No success was had with the same method, however, in immunizing rabbits, 

 and this fact was attributed to the greater susceptility of rabbits to tubercle bacilli. 

 Immunity in cattle toward bovine tubercle bacilli majl be produced by a single sub- 

 cutaneous inoculation with human tubercle bacilli. The author argues, therefore, 

 that it is unnecessary to make a repeated intravenous inoculation with human 

 tubercle bacilli, as has been recommended by von Behring and others. 



Human tubercle bacilli, although highly virulent for guinea pigs, when inoculated 

 subcutaneously into cattle produce no local tuberculous infection, nor do they 

 remain demonstrable at that point as a result of any proliferation of tissue The 

 result of vaccination is therefore not a mild infection with tuberculosis, but is in the 

 nature of an inflammatory process. Human tubercle bacilli appear, therefore, to 

 operate as a vaccine toward bovine tuberculosis. 



The author tested the properties of serum obtained from animals which had been 

 immunized by his method. It was found that such serum produced no protective 

 power toward tuberculosis. It is believed that a method of immunizing human 

 beings may be devised upon the same basis by the use of bovine tubercle bacilli. 



Tuberculosis of food animals as their most important defect, A. Maier 

 {Ztschr. Fleisch-u. Milehhyg., 15 {1904), No. I, pp. 11-14). — A general discussion of 

 tuberculosis particularly from the standpoint of the meat inspector, with notes on 

 methods of controlling this disease and on the utilization of meat affected to different 

 degrees with tuberculosis. 



