1019] VETERINARY MEDICINE. 85 



Bubcutaneous test, even though positive, the subject remains sensitive to the 

 Intradermal test. 



Epizootic lymphangitis (Vet. Ret?., 2 (1018), No. 8, pp. 800-303).— A review 

 of nine recent papers on the subject, two of which have been previously noted 

 (!•;. S. It.. 38, p. 689; 39, p. L85). 



Ulcerative lymphangitis i Vet. Rev., 2 (1918), No. 3, pp. 299, 300).— A re- 

 view of recent literature on the subject. 



The rat and poliomyelitis. — An experimental study, H. L. Amoss and P. 

 II sski i:\n:i; {Jour. Expt. Med., 88 (WIS), No. h, pp. 429-.' f 3J,) .— The authors' 

 conclusions, based upon the Investigations here reported, are as follows: 



" The cent nil nervous organs and other viscera of 6 rats, collected in a district 

 in Greater New York in which many cases of epidemic poliomyelitis occurred, 

 have been proved incapable of inciting, ou inoculation, experimental poliomye- 

 litis in Macacos rhesus monkeys. The virus of poliomyelitis injected into the 

 brain of white rats does not survive there as long as four days in a form or in 

 amounts sufficient to cause infection when inoculated intracerebral^- into 

 monkeys. 



"The failure of the virus injected into the brain of rats to incite infection in 

 monkeys is not due to the quantity introduced, since at the expiration of 1.5 

 hours after the injection the excised inoculation site, when injected into the 

 monkey, caused typical experimental poliomyelitis. It does not appear prob- 

 able, therefore, that the rat acts in nature as the reservoir of the virus of 

 poliomyelitis." 



Spirochaeta hebdomadis, the causative agent of seven-day fever (nanu- 

 kayami), I, Y. Ido, H. Ito, and H. Wani (Jour. Expt. Med., 28 (1918), No. 4, 

 pp. '!■'■'• 148, pi. 1, tins. 4).— "A new species of spirochete which we have called 

 S. hebdomadis has been described as the specific etiological agent of seven-day 

 fever, a disease prevailing in the autumn in Fukuoka and other parts of Japan. 

 This spirochete is distinguishable from S. icterohwmorrghagicc, to which it 

 presents certain similarities. Young guinea pigs are susceptible to inoculation 

 with the blood of patients and to pure cultures of the spirochete, and those 

 developing infection exhibit definite symptoms suggestive of those of seven-day 

 fewer in man. 



"The blood serum of convalescents from seven-day fever contains specific 

 immune bodies acting spirochetolytically and spirocheticidally against the 

 specific spirochetes, but not against S. ictcroh(vmorrhagi<v. 



"The field mouse (Microtus montebelli) is the normal host of the spirochetes, 

 which have been detected in the kidneys and urine of 3.3 per cent of the 

 animals examined. The endemic area of prevalence of seven-day fever cor- 

 responds with the region in which field mice abound." 



An improved method for recovering trypanosomes from the blood of rats 

 for antigen purposes in connection -with complement fixation, F. H. Rey- 

 nolds and II. W. Schoening (Jour. Agr. Rescareh [U. S.], Ik (1918), No. 13. pp. 

 51.3-576).— The authors, of the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture, point out the undesirable features of the "Watson method, previ- 

 ously noted (E. S. R., 34, p. 1S6), for recovering trypanosomes from the blood 

 of infected rats, and describe a new method which is said to have given good 

 results. The technique of the method is as follows : 



Blood from infected rats collected in a 1 per cent sodium-citrate solution in 

 physiological salt solution to prevent coagulation is filtered through cheesecloth 

 to remove clots, fibrin, etc., poured into tubes, and centrifuged for about 20 

 minutes at 2,100 revolutions per minute. This precipitates all the corpuscles 

 and most of the trypanosomes. leaving an upper stratum of blood serum and 

 citrate solution containing some of the organisms. This fluid is drawn off and 



