IMS] VETERINARY MEDICINE. 477 



of investigations of the Bureau of Animal Industry of the D. B. Department of 



Agriculture which have h-d to tiie following summary and conclusion!: 

 "The larvae of TrioMnelia spiral** do not linger In the stomach of the boat 



after they arc freed from their capsules, but pass Into the small Intestine. The 

 passage of the larva? through the stomach does not stimulate them to further 

 growth and development, and a brief sojourn in the intestine is [nsnffldenl to 

 initiate those processes which lead to sexual maturity. Larva from the in- 

 testine that have not yet heen stimulated to further development become tightly 

 coiled when removed from the host and placed In a physiological salt solution, 



hut those which have been stimulated to development apparently lose the power 

 of becoming tightly coiled under similar conditions. Larvae which have been 

 stimulated to further development in the Intestine will molt even after being 

 removed from that organ. The molting process may he hastened by high tem- 

 peratures and suppressed hy low temperatures. Larvee which have not yet been 

 .stimulated to further development In the small intestine can not he caused to 

 molt by a blgh temperature. 



" Willi the beginning Of development in the small intestine the larva' lose the 

 power of surviving for considerable lengths of time outside of the host. They 

 afterwards become more persistent, however, in direct proportion to their increas- 

 ing age. When removed from the host within 24 hours alter artificial Infection 

 intestinal trichina 1 often undergo spontaneous disintegration, which may be 

 due to the sudden change of environment, lack of food, or possibly the liberation 

 of toxic substances which affect the parasites while in an artificial medium. 

 Larvee which molt after removal from the host have been observed occasionally 

 to decrease in size. It is suggested that the dwarfed condition is possibly due to 

 lack of food. 



"After the first and subsequent molts the tolerance of the larvae to various 

 toxic agents is replaced by a marked sensitiveness to such agents, which de- 

 creases, however, with advancing age. Under the influence of potassium cyanld 

 the worms undergo disintegration and exhibit susceptibility to the poison along 

 the major axis, which in the growing forms appears to be greatest in regions 

 where growth takes place most rapidly. Modifications in the permeability of 

 the cuticle do not appear to be directly responsible for the changes in suscepti- 

 bility. The changes probably result from a reorganization of the protoplasm 

 coincident with growth, differentiation, and age. Attempts to induce molting in 

 the larvae which have been decapsuled by artificial digestion and afterwards 

 kept in vitro under various conditions have thus far failed to yield successful 

 results." 



A study of the character of the feces due to various foods in connection 

 with anthelmintic investigation, M. WiODOB {Amer. ■lour. Vet. Med n 13 [1918), 

 No. 9. pp. J/.'/l-Jf^-'f). — "Soft light-colored plentiful feces are Indicative of a 

 bread diet. Dark fairly hard feces in comparatively small amounts are indi- 

 cative of a raw meat diet. Very dark fairly soft feces in small amounts are 

 indicative of a finely chopped cooked meat diet. (This seems to be especially 

 true when the meat is fed while still warm.) Clay-colored, brittle feces in 

 small lumps are indicative of some bone constituent in the diet 



"Therapeutic doses of oil of chenopodium or distillation products of oil of 

 chenopodium, when given with castor oil, usually cause greenish, fluid feces, 

 regardless of the diet. 



"Excessive or lethal doses of chenopodium constituents cause constipation, 

 in spite of therapeutic doses of castor oil, defecation being suppressed for a 

 period of one or more days or the feces being hard and dark." 



The role of immunity in the conduct of the present war, J. A. Koi.mkr 

 (Jour. Immunol., 3 (1918), No. 5. pp. 371-374).— This is a brief discussion of 



