VETERINARY SCIENCE AND PRACTICE. 923 



Variations in the agglutination of tubercle bacilli, S. Arloing and P. Cour- 

 mont (Rev. Tuberculose, l {1904), No. 5, pp. 829-849).— The purpose of the experi- 

 ments reported in this article were to determine whether nonagglutinable tubercle 

 bacilli may not become agglutinogens and \\ hether an agglutinating Bubstance could 

 be obtained by inoculating them into experimental animals. The dog was used as 

 the exclusive experimental animal. Tubercle bacilli of human, bovine, and avian 

 origin were employed in the experiments. 



As a result of the extensive series of experiments carried out by the authors it was 

 concluded that there are homogeneous agglutinable cultures of tubercle bacilli, and 

 also others which are completely without the property of agglutinability. The origin 

 of the cultures appears to have no influence upon their properties. Very often 

 homologous serum is not particularly agglutinating toward the corresponding bacillus. 

 All homogeneous cultures which were used proved to lie agglutinogens without 

 regard to their origin. In other words, when inoculated into experimental animals 

 they produced sera which agglutinated corresponding cultures of the bacilli. 



There appears to he no necessary connection between the agglutinability and the 

 agglutinogenic power of sera. Apparently the causes of variation in the agglutina- 

 bility of tubercle bacilli can not be sought either in their origin, virulence, agglu- 

 tinogenic power, or age of the cultures. For practical purposes, therefore, it appears 

 that the absence of agglutinability is not a character which may be made use of for 

 differentiating between the different types of tubercle bacilli. 



The cure and prevention of bovine tuberculosis by subcutaneous injec- 

 tions of oil, T. B. Keyes i Vet. Jour., 59 (1904), No. 852, pp. 201-208). — Subcuta- 

 neous injections of olive oil have been tested by the author for the cure of tubercu- 

 losis in man. The oils selected for this purpose were of a high grade and thoroughly 

 sterilized. Olive oil was preferred to other oils on account of its being comparatively 

 nonirritant. The injections were made over the shoulder blades alternately. 



The theory upon which this treatment is based is that during the course of tuber- 

 culosis the nutritive process in man and animal is at a low ebb and may be greatly 

 supplemented by the use of oil. It is recommended that cattle affected with tuber- 

 culosis be similarly treated with quantities of linseed, cotton-seed, and sperm oil. 



Fluorescence and precocious tuberculin reaction, I>. Jacobsohn (Compl. 

 Rend. Soc. Biol. [Paris], 56 (1904). No. 15, pp. 713, 714)- — The author had pre- 

 viously noted that fluorescent rays of light have the power of checking the develop- 

 ment of other pathogenic bacteria and the possibility of such an effect was studied 

 under the influence of tubercle bacilli. Attention was called to the method of 

 Marmorek in obtaining a precocious tuberculin reaction after inoculation with fluids 

 suspected of being tuberculous. This method was utilized by the author for the 

 purpose of studying the action of fluorescence on tubercle bacilli. 



It was found in these experiments that tubercle bacilli, when rendered fluorescent, 

 no longer give the characteristic rise of temperature as a reaction to tuberculin. 

 From these experimental facts the author concludes that fluorescent light does not 

 exercise any influence upon the tuberculin contained in the bacterial bodies, but that 

 the absence of temperature reaction is probably due to the inhibitory power which 

 fluorescent light exercises on tubercle bacilli in weakening their power of secreting 

 toxin. 



Homogeneous cultures of tubercle bacilli, Vasilescu l Compt. Rend. Soc. Hi"/. 

 [Paris'], 56(1904), No. 20, pp. 929-931).— The author's method for obtaining homo- 

 geneous cultures of tubercle bacilli is briefly described. It was found that when 

 properly prepared, the mixture when kept in an autoclave at a temperature of 120° C. 

 suffered no coagulation. With cultures thus rendered perfectly homogeneous it was 

 found possible to make a serum diagnosis for tuberculosis with the same ease as has 

 been attained in the diagnosis of typhoid fever. 

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