VETERINARY MEDICINE. 779 



to the discovery of the organism in milk, its artificial cultivation, inoculation 

 tests, lesions caused in guinea pigs, and its occurrence in milk. It is shown 

 that the organism has the udders of apparently healthy cows as its normal 

 habitat and that it may be eliminated continuously for years in the milk of 

 infected cows that no longer abort. A record is given of a cow which shows 

 that the bacillus was present in the milk for a period of about 2 years 

 and 9 mouths, and that there was no reason after 3 years to believe that it had 

 disappeared from the milk. See also previous notes (E. S. R., 27, p. 2S1; 29, 

 p. 500). 



III. Infectious ahortion of cattle, J. R. Mohler and J. Traum (pp. 147-183). — 

 This pai)er describes and discusses the characteristics of the causative organism 

 (BaeUlus abortus) ; discusses the bacterial flora of the vagina; infectiveness ; 

 pathologic anatomy ; symptoms ; diagnosis, including bacteriologic, serologic, 

 and allergic methods; and preventive and remedial treatment, including im- 

 'munizatiou. A bibliography of 29 titles is appended. 



The artificial inoculation of cattle with the bacillus of contagious abor- 

 tion, F. M. Surface (Amer. Vet. Rev., 43 (1913), No. 6. pp. 634-628).— " The 

 subcutaneous injection of a pregnant cow with a mixture of aerobic cultures of 

 the ;;bortion bacillus was followed by a typical abortion 52 days later. From 

 this afterbirth and fetus a strain of organisms was isolated which grew steadily 

 in the air on plain agar on the second day of incubation. In these respects the 

 isolated organisms agreed with the strains injected and differed from any 

 strains previously isolated. This in connection with Fabyan's evidence from 

 guinea pigs [B. S. R., 29, p. 282] indicates that a cow may be artiticially in- 

 fected by the subcutaneous inoculation of this organism." 



Investigations of the etiolog-y of infectious abortion of mares and jennets 

 in Plentucky, E. S. Good and L. S. Coebett [Jour. Infect. Diseases, 13 (1913), 

 No. 1, pp. 53-6S, figs. 8). — This is a continuation of the work previously noted 

 (E. S. R., 27, p. 580) reporting the isolation of the germ belonging to subgroup 

 II of the colon typhoid group in 3 additional studs of aborting mares. " While 

 we place the bacillus isolated at this laboratory in the same group as B. enter- 

 itidis and B. cholera; suis, it differs somewhat in cultural characteristics, and 

 serum immune to the bacillus obtained from the mare does not agglutinate 

 either B. entcritidis or B. cholera; suis. 



"As it is evident that the etiological factors of the disease of infectious abor- 

 tion of the cow and of the mare are different, we would suggest that the bacillus 

 causing abortion in the mare be differentiated from B. abort )ts Bang by naming 

 it B. abortivus equinus. From our investigations, normal horse serum agglu- 

 tinates B. abortimis equinus in a dilution of 1 : 200, occasionally 1 : 300, while 

 the serum of infected animals agglutinates from 1 : 500 to 1 : 5,000. 



•' The results of the work of Dr. F. M. Surface show that the serum of In- 

 fected animals fixes the complement. A ewe and a .sow, injected intravenously, 

 and guinea pigs, subcutaneously, with pure cultures of this germ, aborted and 

 the organism was recovered from the uterine exudates. An injection of 2 cc. 

 of physiological salt suspension of B. abortivus equinus in a pregnant mare 

 caused abortion in 10 days, with typical symptoms of natural infection. The 

 organism was recovered in abundance from all the internal organs of the fetus, 

 as well as the fetal membranes and uterus of the mare." 



The technique of complement fixation in contag-ious abortion of bovines, 

 A. Thomsen (Ztschr. InfektionsJcrank. u. Hyg. Eaustiere, IS (1913), No. 3-4, 

 pp. 175-179). — The author maintains that for the diagnosis of this condition by 

 the complement fixation method it is not necessary to inactivate the serum pre- 

 viously, and that in some instances this is actually detrimental to the test. 



