1090 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



diseanes in the country, and rules and regulations adopted for i)reventing the spread 

 of infectious diseases. Special attention is given to rinderpest, anthrax, rallies, 

 glanders, foot-and-mouth disease, pneumonia, sheep pox, mange, swine erysipelas, 

 swine plague, and hog cholera. A lirief report is given on experiments in preventive 

 inoculation against antlirax, swine erysipelas, and hlackleg. 



Annual report on investigations in the field of veterinary medicine, Ellen- 

 BEKGEK ET AL. {Jcihrcsber. Leist. Geh. Vet. Med., 20 [1900), pp. 267).— A. classified dis- 

 cussi<ni of the literature on the subject of veterinary science during the year 1900. 

 Bibliographical references are given and author and subject indexes are appended to 

 the volume. 



The Tenth International Congress of Hygiene and Demography, E. A. de 

 ScHWEiNiTZ ( U. S. Dept. Aijr., Bureau of Am mat Indu.<>(ri/ Rpt. 1900, }>p. 260, 261). — Brief 

 notes on this Congress which was held in Paris from August 10 to 16, 1900. The 

 work of the Congress was conducted in 8 sections devoted to parasitology and the 

 biology of micro-organisms as applied to hygiene. Notes were given on papers 

 which were presented on toxins in preserving meats, on yellow fever, and other 

 subjects. 



Studies on the content of red blood corpuscles in the blood of domesticated 

 animals, A. Stokcii {Inmuj. Diss., Vnir. Bern, 1901, pji. 52). — The author made an 

 extended series of counts of the number of red blood corpuscles in a given quantity 

 of blood, in the case of different animals. These studies were made by means of 

 improved devices especially designed for this purpose. The average number found 

 in a cubic millimeter of l^lood of different animals in different stages of life is given 

 in tabular form. These statistics cover the different sexes as well as the different 

 ages of domesticated animals. In general it was found that male animals have more 

 red blood corpuscles than female animals. A general belief that new-born and 

 young animals possess relatively more red blood corpuscles than mature animals waa 

 not corroborated, as a whole, for the blood of sheep, goats, and hogs during the first 

 few days of life contain fewer red blood corpuscles than later. The calf possesses a 

 relatively larger number of red blood corpuscles than the mature ])eef animal. 



The occurrence of metachromatic granules in spore-bearing bacteria, and 

 contributions to the knowledge of the Babes-Ernst corpuscles, E. Krom- 

 PECHER {Centbl. Bakt. n. Par., 1. Aht., SO {1901), Nos. 10, pp. 385-395; 11, pp. 425-428, 

 pis. 7). — In cultures of Bacillus anthracis, B. concentricum, and B. anthracoides on 

 agar, potato, and gelatin, the author demonstrated the presence of granules which 

 were stained bright red with carbol-methylene blue, and retained their color even 

 when the staining solution was raised to a comparatively high temperature. First 

 one granule appears in the central portion of the bacillus; after 2 days the color 

 of the granule is gradually changed from a diffuse rose to an intensive red. Later 

 other granules appear in the central portion of the bacillus, and these granules may 

 considerably increase in number and persist after the cell body of the bacillus is 

 gradually disintegrated. It is l^elieved that these granules are in some manner 

 related to the formation of spores, for the reason that the granules appear among 

 spore-bearing cultures, and that they show a decided resistance to the action of heat. 

 The Babes-Ernst corpuscles may exist in the body of the bacillus at the same time 

 with the granules which are described by the author, but the first-named corpuscles 

 are easily distinguished from the granules by the position of the former in the periph- 

 ery of the body of the bacillus. Babes-Ernst corpuscles were found in spore-bearing 

 bacilli, in B. anthracis and B. alei. According to the author's observations, the Babes- 

 Ernst corpuscles are not distinctly related to the degree of virulence of the bacilli. 



A classification of forms of hemorrhagic septicaemia, J. I>I(;nieres {Ann. Inst. 

 Pasteur, 15 {1901), No. 9, pp. 734-736). — The organisms which produce hemorrhagic 

 septicemia are considered as having a number of characteristics in common. They 

 are not stained by the Gram method, do not liquefy gelatin, and produce acute sep- 



