VETERINARY MEDICINE. 877 



have disgorged blood by mechanical stimulation or other means, after holding 

 it for a period of five days, will cause rinderpest when drunk by a susceptible 

 animal. Leeches which have died from mechanical or other cause after holding 

 virulent blood for five days are able to transmit the disease when the blood is 

 ingested by a susceptible animal. It was also found that leeches can not 

 transmit the disease to a susceptible animal by feeding on it after they have 

 fed upon an animal suffering from rinderpest. The trypanosome of surra does 

 not remain alive for any length of time in the ingested blood of a leech, and 

 the leech can not transmit the disease by biting. Thus it appears that a leech 

 may be responsible for the appearance of recognizable rinderpest 40 days after 

 imbibing virulent blood. In this period the leech can hold the blood 25 days, 

 to which an inculcation period of 10 days may l>e added. 



The action of sodium sulphocyanate in tuberculosis. — XII, Studies on the 

 biochemistry and chemotherapy of tuberculosis, H. J. Corper (Jour. Infect. 

 Diseases, 16 {1915), No. 1, pp. 5S-y;6).—" Sodium sulphocyanate is lethal to 

 rabbits when given intravenously in amounts of 0.4-0.6 gm. per kilogram. 

 Delayed death may occur even from smaller amounts. 



"When injected intravenously (about 0.4 gm, per kilogram), it is found in 

 the tuberculous tissues in concentration about equal to that in the blood 

 (0.06-O.OS per cent). The concentration in the lungs, heart, kidneys, and testes 

 is not far from that in the blood, the concentration in the liver is less, while 

 it is practically absent from the muscles. It disappears from the tissues (nor- 

 mal and tuberculous) as speedily as it does from the blood (being absent about 

 5 days after injection). No evidence of a chemical affinity of the sodium sul- 

 phocyanate for any of the normal or tuberculous tissues was obtained. Tuber- 

 cle bacilli, exposed to concentrations of sodium sulphocyanate up to 1 per cent 

 for 48 hours at 37° C. and up to 0.1 per cent for 7 days at 37° were not killed. 

 Xo evidence even of attenuation was observed." 



Sodium tellurite as a rapid test for the viability of tubercle bacilli. — XIII, 

 Studies ou the biochemistry and chem.otherapy of tuberculosis, H. J, Corpek 

 {Jour. Infect. Diseases, 16 {1915), No. 1, pp. ^7-53). — "As a result of an attempt 

 to use the Gosio vital reaction (sodium tellurite) as an index of life of virulent 

 human tubercle bacilli in bactericidal experiments in connection with chemo- 

 therapeutic work, it may be stated that it was not found to be an available 

 general reagent for this purpose, at least by the methods tested. Nevertheless, 

 by its use a simple, rapid test was developed for determining the viability of 

 cultures of tubercle bacilli, of value especially in eliminating such loss of time 

 as may be occasioned by working with dead instead of viable cultures. 



"A small lumr) of the culture to be tested is placed in the cup of a sterile, 

 hollow glass slide and one or two small drops of sterile 0.2 per cent sodium 

 tellurite in distilled water are added; it is covered with a sterile glass cover 

 slip bordered with sterile vaseline and placed in the incubator at 37° C. Life 

 of the organism is indicated by the blackening of the lump of culture, which 

 occurs in from thirty minutes to two hours. 



" Sodium tellurite is lethal to rabbits when it is given intravenously in 

 amounts of about 0.8 mg. per kilogram. It does not kill the tubercle bacillus 

 even when in 0.01 per cent concentration in salt solution or glycerol broth for 

 forty-eight hours at 37° C, nor does it inhibit the growth in 0.001 per cent 

 concentration on glycerol agar." 



The tuberculin reaction in the pig, Lindner {Arb. K. Gsndhtsamt., 48 

 (19U), No. 2, pp. 293-302; ahs. in Berlin. Tierdrztl. Wchnschr., 31 {1915), No. 

 14, pp. 162, 163). — The body temperature of healthy pigs two to three months 

 old is very irregular. Generally speaking, it is said to vary between 39 and 



