276 EXPEKIMENT STATION EECORD. 



is evident from tlie data that tliere is no essential difference between the rec- 

 ords of the two groups of testers, [professional and nonprofessional], and that 

 those are in error who have claimed that the apparently less satisfactory re- 

 sults obtained in this State with the tuberculin test, so far as the occurrence 

 of animals that failed to show lesions on slaugliter is concerned, have been 

 due to the nonprofessional testing." The percentage of animals that do not 

 show lesions on slaughter increases with the more general application of the 

 test, " or, in other words, with the testing of what represents the average herd 

 of the State, rather than when a considerable portion of the animals tested are 

 from badly infected herds. Thus, in the year 1910-11, when over 200,000 ani- 

 mals were tested, the effect of the nonprofessional testing was to increase the 

 percentage of no-lesion animals from 20.6 per cent, tlie record of the veteri- 

 narians, to 21.8 per cent. During this year 44.5 per cent of all testing was 

 done by nonprofessional men. It is clear that the cause of the large percent- 

 age of no-lesion animals is not to be found in the way in which the test has 

 been handled in Wisconsin, but that the explanation must be sought elsewhere." 



A study was also made to determine whether there was any essential dif- 

 ference between the temperatures of the animals showing lesions and those 

 having no lesions. " The no-lesion animals as a class tend to have lower 

 temperatures after injection of the tuberculin than do those animals that show 

 lesions of tuberculosis on slaughter. It is again clear that no accurate divi- 

 sion of the lesion and no-lesion animals can be made by aid of the temperature 

 records alone." 



The agglutination of Micrococcus melitensis by normal cows' milk, P. W. 

 Bassett-Smith {Lancet [London], 1914, I, No. 11, pp. 737-739). — "Using a 

 48 hours' culture for the emulsion and a dilution of 1 : 20 in this series, none of 

 the milk from 21 cows gave a positive reaction when examined quite fresh, 

 but with mixed samples of milk a high proportion reacted positively at this 

 dilution, most of which were cut out by using heated milk and diluting with 

 distilled water instead of saline solution. In any case it is very necessary to 

 centrifuge the milk very thoroughly and to examine it at once, using an emul- 

 sion made from the M. melitensis not more than 48 hours old, and even then 

 a few errors will occur by false clumps in the sedimentation tubes carrying 

 down micrococci with them. 



" There is no doubt that cows' milk in some cases has a natural tendency to 

 agglutinate the M. melitensis, but if care is taken most of these nonspecific 

 reactions may be avoided. The reaction always requires to be controlled by 

 other methods of diagnosis before an animal can be considered to be infected." 



See also previous notes (E. S. R., 27, 380; 29, p. 780). 



Loco weed disease of sheep, H. T. Marshall (Univ. Ya., Bui. Phil. Soc., 

 Sci. Set:, 1 (1914), No. 19, pp. 373-436) .—This is a detailed report of investi- 

 gations conducted in Montana in 1903 and 1904, particularly as relate to the 

 symptoms and to the anatomical changes characteristic of loco weed poisoning, 

 a summary of w^hich has previously been noted from another source (E. S. R.. 

 31, p. 781). The subject is reported under the headings of information ob- 

 tained from the ranchmen and from the literature (pp. 375-380). examina- 

 tions of "locoed" sheep (pp. 380-399), feeding experiments (pp. 400-420), 

 discussion of parasitic diseases encountered (pp. 421-423), review of recent 

 publications dealing with loco weed disease (pp. 423^33), and the loco prob- 

 lem (pp. 433-436). 



Investigation into the disease of sheep called *' scrapie " (Traberkrank- 

 heit; la tremblante), with especial reference to its association with sarco- 

 sporidiosis, J. P. M'Gowan (Edinhiirgh, 1914, pp. TI+116, pis. 14).— The 



